May My Monthly Hero + Giveaway

Hi friends! It's the first Monday of a new month and time for another fabulous My Monthly Hero release. The May kit celebrates crafting and is filled with stamps and dies sure to delight the artistic soul! This month's add-ons are spectacular, too, so be sure to check them all out in the shop! As per usual, once I started, I just couldn't stop creating. This month's kit is so much fun!

If you've been hopping along, you should have arrived from  Lydia Fiedler's blog. Your next hop stop after this will be Laurie Willison's blog. 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...

My first card, started with the gorgeous yarn heart fancy die in the kit.  I cut it from cardstock three times, layering for thickness. Next I sponged with a rainbow of Hero Arts inks. When this was done, I coated the entire heart with embossing ink (there's some included in this month's kit!) and then embossed with sparkle embossing powder. I love how shimmery it is.

Next I painted some cardstock with pewter glimmer metallic ink and then die cut with the fancy needle die from the kit twice for the knitting needles.  I pulled out the Crafting Border Fancy Die with Frame add-on and embossed it onto the card base using my die cut machine. I wanted a super subtle kind of quilted effect, but you could get a similar look by just layering the die cut in white cardstock on a white card base.  The sentiment from the kit is embossed in white on black cardstock and folded into a dimensional banner shape.

I was so happy with my rainbow heart, I decided to use the same colors of inks with a direct to paper technique for a fun rainbow background. I just swiped each ink pad across my paper, overlapping colors to get some subtle blends. This panel is cut with the Infinity Rounded Rectangle Dies and then matted on black.  

Next I stamped and die cut several of the images from the main kit.  I colored with Copic markers, except for the scissors, which I painted with pewter glimmer metallic ink.  Then I layered all the pieces together.  The sentiment is a one line strip, but I cut my stamped image into two parts to separate the sentences. My final touch was the craftiness is happiness sentiment inked up in the same rainbow of colors (reverse order because I wasn't thinking about it being opposite when I used my MISTI to stamp the sentiment). When I was done stamping in color, I stamped once more in embossing ink and then embossed with clear. A little crystal clear lacquer pen accent and glitter finished things off.

I was having so much fun playing with the rainbow, that I decided to just continue on with it. For this card I wanted to use two of my favorite add-ons from the kit, the Crafty Messages stamp set and the Wood Frame Infinity Dies. These two are definite must-haves in my opinion! I cut the wood frame (isn't that embossing detail on the die so amazing?) and sponged with distress oxide inks. I then popped it up on foam tape on a rectangle I had stamped the sentiment from Crafty Messages on.

For my final card, I used a rainbow background I had previously made using a Gelli Plate and reactive inks. I embossed the fabulous new Crafting Tools Bold Prints background in white, then matted with a super thin mat of black. I wanted to keep as much of that rainbow showing as I could!

I fell in love with the Tin of Brushes wood stamp the moment I saw it. It reminded me of a fun Mother's Day project I made back in elementary school using an old soup can and yarn. I colored the image with Copics, bringing in a rainbow of colors, then framed this with black cardstock I finished the card with a sentiment and a few ink splatters from the Handmade Happiness set, then added a hint of shimmer with some crystal clear lacquer pen and glitter accents on the paint drips and splats.

Well, that's all from me today. You deserve a crafty high five if you made it this far! 😁  I've got a couple more cards finished, but I think I've blogged enough for today! 

I hope you've enjoyed my makes and a bit of my creative process. I had so much fun crafting the rainbow with this month's 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 pre-order yours while you can! Kits begin shipping from Hero Arts on Friday, May 10th.

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

Kit Contents:

• 6" x 8" Clear Stamp Set
• 20 Coordinating Frame Cuts
• 2 Fancy Dies
• Purple Sparkle Embossing Powder 0.5 oz.
• Clear Embossing & Watermark Ink Cube
• Lavender Washi Tape
• 5 Mini Clothespins

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 Laurie Willison.  Happy hopping!

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

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