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March 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! This month's kit is a sea lover's dream! It's o-FISH-ally awesome and had me singing Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid the whole time I was creating! 😁 This month's add-ons are all spectacular, so be sure to check them all out! I can't wait to find some more time to play with them all!  I know you're going to have a blast pairing them with the March MMH kit.


If you've been hopping along, you should have arrived from Laurie Willison's blog. Your next hop stop after this will be Jennifer McGuire's blog. 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 versatile images and accessories. Plus there's such a wealth of inspiration from the designers each month! Speaking of inspiration, let's get started...

This month's kit includes three fabulous little mini ink cubes with reactive ink. Visions of awesome sea backgrounds jumped into my head, so I started by testing out the inks, making several backgrounds. I've recently been practicing creating videos, so I've uploaded a new one of me creating three of the backgrounds for today's cards. My cat decided to grace my desk with her presence and knocked my phone off  it's stand at the end of filming, somehow magically erasing the footage of the other two cards. I was left with just a few seconds of her swishing her tail and sitting on my finished project! Anyhow, you can view the video below or on my YouTube channel.


This release had my mind just swimming with ideas! I'm sharing FIVE cards today, so if you don't already have a cuppa something awesome by your side, you might want to go grab a cup to enjoy while I share my makes.


I started out with my go-to technique of smooshing the reactive inks onto a plastic baggie and then touching them to watercolor paper, then spritzing and drying as need be to get a super splashy background. Loved how this turned out, so I started in on a little underwater scene, stamping several of the images from the kit along the bottom using my MISTI, so that I could stamp them a couple times in ink and then stamp over them with the reactive sea salt ink to give them just a bit of a faded look. 


When I was happy with the look of things, I needed some fishies. I pretty much squealed in delight when I tried the next thing, which was stamping the fish images in sea glass a couple times, then adding blue water ink to the bottom halves of the stamps, then spritzing lightly with water and stamping again. Eeep! So fabulous!  I cut my little fishies with coordinating dies from the kit (there are a bazillion of them), then popped them up on foam tape and added the just keep swimming sentiment from the kit in intense black. The new Adriatic Hero Hues cardstock was the perfect color to mat with.

Next, I wanted to see how an ink resist would look, so embossed the Bubbles Bold Prints background in white and then blended the sea glass and blue water reactive inks over it.  I then spritzed with water for an even more aerated look. This background seemed to be calling out for the aquarium fancy die from the main kit. I cut it from the Adriatic card stock, gave it a good coating of Versamark and then embossed with Sparkle embossing powder for a super shimmery look. I then cut the die from fun foam and layered behind my embossed panel.


Once my background was layered together, I chose a sweet little goldfish from the adorable Pet Goldfish add-on set to stamp and color with Copic markers. I was a bit sloppy with my coloring, so fussy cut him instead of using the coordinating frame cuts. Then I chose the fintastic friend sentiment from the same set and embossed in the blue water reactive ink onto vellum. I layered a white cardstock circle behind this and then embellished with some of the beautiful blue and green droplets from the main kit. My final accent was a touch of the crystal clear lacquer pen on each of the fins and a sprinkle of glitter.


I had so much fun with the emboss resist, I thought it would be fun to do another using the images from the kit.  I built a little background with a bunch of the sealife images from the kit, placing them in opposing directions here and there. Then I embossed in white onto smooth bristol cardstock. Next I blended sea glass and blue water reactive inks onto the panel, then wiped in horizontal swaths with a baby wipe to get the striation effect I was going for. A super light touch is all you need here.



Then it was simply a matter of adding the swim in your own direction sentiment from Color Layering Betta Fish add-on set as a little popped up banner and grabbing an extra fishy I had stamped and cut when I was making that first card.



I loved how the inks blended, so decided to do a very simple simple technique of blending the two colored inks onto smooth bristol cardstock, then spritzing with water and blotting with a paper towel. Isn't that reactive property just fabulous?


I didn't want to cover up too much of that beautiful background, so I pulled out the Color Layering Betta Fish add-on set and stamped in worn lipstick, picked raspberry and seedless preserves Distress Oxides, the die cut with the coordinating frame cuts. I popped my betta up on foam tape and then added the fun sentiment in black and a thin pitch black Hero Hues mat to finish things off.


For my final card today, I created a background by swiping the reactive inks across a paper in stripe formation, then spritzing and blending, until I got the effect I was looking for. I stamped the coral type images from the main kit in Versamark along the bottom of the panel and then embossed them with white puff embossing powder to give them a rough texture.


My boys have a weekly therapy appointment, and in the waiting room they have a tank of artificial jellyfish that move around and glow in all the colors of the rainbow. It's absolutely mesmerizing to watch (I've spent many hours just watching it), so as soon as I saw the jellyfish image in the main kit I knew I wanted to stamp a bunch of jellyfish. I stamped the image multiple times with the Sea Aquas inks and sea glass reactive ink. Then I cut them with the coordinating die and accented with some sparkly glitter glue. I chose a sentiment from the adorable Curious Cat add-on set and embossed it in white to finish off the card.

Okay, that's all for me today. I hope you've enjoyed my makes from 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!

Here's a closer look at the March My Monthly Hero kit. I've also linked the entire release along with the supplies I used for these cards below for your convenience.


For a chance to win the giveaway of this month's kit, leave some comments for the talented designers linked below. Here's the full hop list. Next up on the hop is Jennifer McGuire.  Happy hopping!



Affiliate links are used where possible. When you order from them, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you and you receive happy mail! Win, win! Thanks so much for clicking on my links to shop. 💙

72 comments

Heidi MyLittleStampingBlog said...

Lovely cards! The backgrounds are all so much fun with this kit!

Purple Princess said...

great kit! amazing cards!!

Kelsey Thomas said...

I love your cards! :)

Shelley E said...

I enjoyed seeing your cards and seeing what you did with the water reactive inks. I have not used them before and this "water" themed kit really benefits from the spritz technique. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Emma Rose said...

Love these cards and the puntastic writing. Great backgrounds

Helen said...

Love all these cards. The backgrounds are spectacular and I absolutely adore the fish. Fantastic technique. Thanks so much for sharing xxx

Rebecca Ednie said...

Totally adore this kit. Can’t wait for mine. Your cards are fabulous.

Karen H said...

Thanks, Julee for the gorgeous samples from this month's kit. Love watching your smooshing technique for your beautiful backgrounds.

Dee Earnshaw said...

OMG your cards are sensational - LOVE these underwater scenes!!

Jo Malicoat said...

What a great group of cards, love them all!

Billie Sue Woolley said...

Very nice cards. I need to try the ink "smooshing" with a plastic bag. That makes a great background. Also, the beta fish in the bright colors is wonderful.

Connie said...

Wow! These are fabulous. I love the backgrounds. This kit and the add-ons just open a whole world of possibilities. I really love the jellyfish. I love watching them when we visit an aquarium.

sharon g said...

I love every single sample you showed. The bubbles are so cool, the scuba diver, everything.

karenajo said...

Awesome cards - such a great variety! Thanks for the inspiration!

Cherry Blossom said...

Fintastic job!

Kathy J in Ellicott City said...

Great kit! Wonderful projects!

Debbie Rumpza said...

Beautiful cards! I love all the backgrounds. They are so pretty!

Diane Bakehouse said...

Love all of your cards. I just adore this kit and the add-ons. I watched your video. Gotta love our cats....lol.

carrie said...

Great Projects! Thanks for sharing

Patti S said...

Love all 5 of your cards! Is there a video on the ink "smooshing" in a plastic bag?

Ellibelle said...

You've created so many amazing card with these new stamps, each one beautiful! My favorite one might be the "smooshed" inky background one, but really hard to pick a favorites! Thank you for all the wonderful inspiration!

Sharron said...

Wow, awesome backgrounds! I would love to play with some reactive inks and try your techniques. Love the effects you got--all the cards are amazing!!

Bev said...

Julee,
Your cards are fantastic! Love how you used this great Hero Arts set! Thanks for the great ideas!

Natalie Winterstein said...

Gorgeous cards! Absolutely stunning!

Christa said...

Love your techniques, really like the puffy corral.

Unknown said...

Hi, Julee! "Eeep! So fabulous!" You can say that again. And again!! That 1st card is gorgeous! And the 4th card with the coral and jellyfish is equally amazing. Thank you for sharing your work!! ♡

Rema DeLeeuw said...

Love this kit!

Leanne in Cali said...

Thanks for sharing your great video with techniques for the backgrounds! All of your cards are awesome!! Such a great kit with fun add-ons.

judy said...

I love the kit and your beautiful cards--the backgrounds are fantastic! Thanks for the inspiration.

LC Lamothe said...

Such beautiful backgrounds! I love all the pretty shades of aqua and blue. Amazing inspiration!

Kirsty Vittetoe said...

Sweet and Perfect!

Viola Leary said...

I’m going to have to try that smooshing technique because you do have to flip the paper over and you can see right where you need more color. I may use that in a future video. It’s brilliant. I will give you the credit. Great idea.

Rose Mary Smalley said...

Great cards...all 5 of them. I am loving the samples that everyone is creating....such a lot of talent on the Hero Arts Blog Hops....love it...
My kit will be on the way soon. I cannot wait. Thank you so much for sharing your super cards.

Linda S. said...

I liked every card you created with this kit.

Leanne said...

All beautiful cards!

Kaye Thrasher said...

Love your beautiful cards. Lots of fun techniques. I am going to have to try some. Thanks for sharing your art.🐧

DJ said...

Love your backgrounds and your spotted fish. I think the jellyfish card is my favorite. TFS!

Shanna said...

I love all of the new ideas!

Debbie Br said...

Especially loved the card where you heat embossed the coral with white puff EP.!

Sue D said...

Love the backgrounds on all of your fabulous cards.

Retta said...

Your backgrounds are just amazing! I would have never thought to stamp the images with the reactive ink and spray them. Thank you so much for sharing this technique!

Mary Holshouser said...

Fantastic backgrounds.
Wonderful cards.
thanks for sharing
txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com

Teri S. said...

Woohoo Julee!! Your cards are absolutely wonderful, each & every one of them! Love the blue reactive inks as the colours are just perfect for underwater scenes, as is the smooshing technique you used. You've showcased this release incredibly well!! I am an "ocean girl" & I'd be more than thrilled to win this kit. Thanks for all of your inspiration. I appreciate the time you've put in & now I'm going back to watch your video. I'm looking forward to seeing the swishing tail. lol

Golda said...

I'm so glad your mind was swimming with ideas, as what you created is a lot of beautiful cards!

Lisa A creations said...

I would love to play with those new reactive inks.

Liz O. said...

Love these awesome cards, especially the way the reactive inks look as an ocean background! thanks for the inspiration!

Jeanne Beam said...

Such gorgeous cards! Each one is so unique.
Thanks for sharing...

Unknown said...

Loved all your cards but the jellyfish caught my eye the most.

Dawn J said...

Beautiful cards. I love how you use the reactive ink.

Janet said...

WOW! You had me with that first card!!! Love it. The rest is just icing on the cake. Thanks for the inspiration. :D

Kandice J said...

Loving the backgrounds on your cards. Beautiful treatment and colors. Beautiful job. Thanks for sharing!

Karthikha said...

Fantastic set of cards!! Each one is super cool and beautiful :)

Arianna Barbara said...

Fabulous cards and colouring!!!

connie #2909 said...

Beautiful cards. love the coloring.

Cindi said...

I absolutely love your backgrounds! Gorgeous card designs!

Beth Merrill said...

Your cards are all amazing. I can't wait to try the reactive inks when I get my kit!

Stacey Kowbel said...

Fantastic cards! I love your backgrounds!

Tindaloo said...

WOW! That's an amzing set of cards ♥ Love the backgrounds and that puffy white coral is something to try for sure :)

Cindy C. said...

Gorgeous cards! You show case the fun kit and the add-ons so beautifully!

Rosemary said...

amazingly beautiful set of cards!

Karen said...

Wow, I love all the different techniques you used to make these cards.

Heather said...

These are all so fabulous!!! I love the backgrounds you created; specially that first one!

FeM said...

Wow your cards are beautiful.

cosie said...

Your cards show of just how versatile this kit is. So many ways to use it and you nailed it with these adorable little masterpieces.

Andre M. said...

Lovely palettes on all these gorgeous cards. Thanks for sharing this inspiration with these fun products.

Patty said...

Super cards!! Love all the different designs!!

Patty said...

Fintastic cards as usual Jennifer!! I really love this kit AND all the add-ons!!

Nox said...

Fabulous cards - they highlight the new release so nicely. I love the gorgeous blues in your designs.

Brenda M said...

All of your cards are fantastic! My favorite is a tie between the first and the last :)

Kris in Alaska said...

What an amazing kit and cards! The third card is my favorite!

Lee said...

Wonderful cards you created!

Jean said...

A wonderful kit and inspirational cards!