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July My Monthly Hero Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hi friends! It's July and we're kicking the month off with another FABULOUS My Monthly Hero release. The July kit is a gorgeous scene building kit with majestic mountains, rows of pine trees and some lakeside fun. It also includes FIVE ink cubes and two NEW colors of cardstock! The add-ons are spectacular, too, so be sure to check them all out in the shop! 



If you've been hopping along, you should have arrived from Debi Adams' 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 absolutely free! If you're not a kit subscriber, what are you waiting for? This is the most fun I have all month!!!  😉 But really, the kits are a FANTASTIC value and frequently sell out. Subscribing guarantees you'll never miss a kit. Plus there's such a wealth of inspiration from the designers each month! Speaking of inspiration, let's jump right in, literally!



Confession: I don't usually gravitate to scene building stamps. I love seeing the end results, but my brain doesn't process the pieces and parts very easily. This month I completed a couple of cards with the kit and then started seeing the sneak peeks on the Hero blog from the gals Talk about MAJESTIC mountains, am I right? I must admit I feel a bit like the poor gal at the back of the exercise videos. You know when they're all, "If at anytime this gets a bit much for you, follow Julee for the modified moves!" Haha! 😅

Regardless of how I arrived there, I do think this card turned out pretty cool. I used the two new colors of cardstock included in the kit (and also available individually) I wanted a kind of rustic fishing lodge poster look, so started building my scene with sand cardstock and layering the little dock pieces.


Next I stamped the cattail images to fill in by the posts and started working on the water, stamping the ripples in dusty blue and unicorn inks, randomly on the Lapis cardstock.  The trees are cut from meadow cardstock and layered with lime green and pine using the color layering stamps from the kit.

For the backdrop of the card, I stamped the beautiful Fishing Net Bold Prints in brown and then embossed the birthday sentiment at the bottom. I framed this with a Wood Frame Infinity die cut then sponged my layers with soft brown and cup o' joe inks for a real rustic finish.

My little jumper was no line watercolored with inks. Too much fun, right?


I was having so much fun, I decided to make another card with the trees, only with a mountain background. Here's where some of those modified moves come in to play. I stamped and cut the trees and layered them in front of my blue mountains. I then cut the hill die and layered it behind my mountains as if there were some in the distance. After looking at the peekers, I'm pretty convinced it's supposed to go in front, but your can be perfect or you can make art, right?  I made my tree line extend out onto a lovely meadow by sponging a little green ink there, which is often how they look here in Idaho.


We have super majestic sunsets in Idaho, especially up in the forests, so I knew I wanted one behind my mountain scene. I took some of the lapis cardstock and stamped it with the fabulous Fishing Pattern Bold Prints and cut a circle in the center as a home for my sunset. I then sponged some white cardstock with soft cantaloupe, pale tomato and dandelion inks, adding in some direct to paper swipes for some striations, and then softening with a bit of unicorn pigment ink.

I layered a piece of vellum with the embossed sentiment under the lapis cardstock and then layered the sunset portion below this to finish off the card.


I had so much fun making that sunset, I decided to play with the Forest Sunset Fancy Die add-on next. I layered one of the circle dies from the Infinty Circles Die Set around the fancy die to cut it in a circle shape. I cut it twice, so I could piece it together, and make the coloring process a bit easier.

For the sky I used the same colors and technique as above.. dandelion, soft cantaloupe, and pale tomato blended across, then swiped direct to paper randomly and then another swiping with unicorn pigment ink. I then used lime green and pine inks to shade the trees, leaving the clouds white and coloring very lightly with a soft blue copic marker. When I had all the blending done and put it back together, I decided to create a white frame for it by running two of the infinity circles through the diecut machine together.  I then glued this on top and mounted the whole thing on a circle cut from foam.


The background is blended with a makeup brush in the same three colors, just using more yellow and orange than red.  In the bottom I stamped the sweet silhouette of a l'il fishermand and the sending summer joy sentiment from the Lake Time Fun add-on. Isn't it sweet?

There are so many fun add-ons this month! I just couldn't resist playing with this sweet little raccoon  and coffee mug from the S'mores Bonfire add-on. The raccoon image is actually holding a s'more stick, but I masked that portion off so I could do something else with him. Once I saw him, I knew exactly what! And this card became a mash-up of so many elements from the kit and add--ons!

He kind of looks like he's sleepwalking, don't ya think? That's how I feel before coffee, so I decided to create a little scene where he's in search of his morning cuppa. I added a tree line in the background with the detailed tree silhouette image from the kit. Using my MISTI, I first stamped it in lime green, then inked it up again in lime green and highlighted the tips with pine and stamped again. Next I blended in some grass, adding in a few patches of grass from the Lake Time Fun set here and there.

I colored and die cut the tree, tent and coffee mug with the coordinating S'mores Bonfire frame cuts, then colored with Copics. I added a bit of white gel pen accents to the mug to get the speckled ceramic campfire mug look, then I layered it all togehter, adding in the hill die cut from the kit as a couple of boulders the coffee is resting on.

I wanted a fun rustic sign type of sentiment, so pulled out the fabulous Log Letters and Numbers stamp set and stamped the word COFFEE in cup o' joe with the arrow below, giving a little guidance to our sleepy li'l raccoon.  This is shaded with soft brown and cup o' joe ink and then mounted onto a Wood Frame Infinity die cut, sponged with the same inks.


I finished off with a little subtle soft blue sky. Happy accident... I found that when you use your sand eraser on recently blended cardstock, it erases the ink. I liked the streaky look it gave to the sky, so decided to swipe my eraser across the whole sky.

Okay,  if you're still with me, you deserve a crafty high five! ✋ I have a couple more cards I created, but I'll save them for another day and let you get on with the hop!

I hope you've enjoyed my makes and a bit of my creative process. I had so much fun going lakeside 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 Monday, July 8th (due to the Independence Day holiday this week).

Here's a closer look at the July 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
  • 14 Coordinating Frame Cuts
  • 2 Fancy Dies
  • 5 Ink Cubes (Dusty Blue, Lime Green, Forest, Cocoa, Sand Stone)
  • 4 5.5" x 8.5" Sheets of New Hero Hues Premium Cardstock (2 each Meadow and Lapis)
  • Blue Pearl Embossing Powder 0.5 oz.
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!


Compensated affiliate links are used where possible. When you place an order after clicking one of my links, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for using my links and supporting this blog. 💙

July My Monthly Hero Release



My Supply List

58 comments

Dee Earnshaw said...

wow what a stunning collection of cards - LOVE them all

Karthikha said...

Wow!! Fabulous creations! Each scene is just awesome! <3

quirks59m said...

What a fun set - so summer!

Macimbalo said...

Great cards, love them all. The colors are so vibrant and gorgeous! My fav is the coffee one - that log coffee sentiment is soooo cute!

karrot22 said...

Wow, love your cards, this set is Amazing and my Favorite Ever!!!! super excited

Christine Kiehl said...

amazing collection of cards you crafted for the hop! YES to coffee! Adorable

Carol said...

The orange-sky card is my fav. It is soo different from the other cards on this hop.

Mrsfish02 said...

I officially dub you a scene builder extraordinaire.... these are all so awesome. Your colors are perfect and the element blend together seamlessly. Congratulations! And I thank you...

sharon g said...

I really love the first sunset. It is just gorgeous!

Emily said...

Wow! I ordered mine and can't wait for its arrival. I love the layered mountains. Who thinks of these things?

Carol Wortman said...

Ms. Julee, I too do not usually gravitate towards heavy scenes as they are usually heavy,but this scenic lake set is sooo peaceful. Love the way you popped it off of the wooden frame.(stealing that idea for sure). Yes that coffee critter did look to be sleep walking, but I think he is enjoying the tranquility of the lake while forging for his coffee, LOVE this scenic stamp THANKS HERO ARTS♡♡ Carol E Wortman

Kelly Kennedy said...

Amazing cards! For someone who doesn’t like to do the background scenes, you really nailed it! Love these!

Dori said...

Beautiful cards, and what great attention to detail... Love the camping cup!

Angelika Sch said...

Love the funny bday card as well as the coffee and camping card :-)

Deb Selby said...

Great creativity in this group of cards. Well done.

Debbie Rumpza said...

Oooh! I love the variety of cards you made... Coffee when you are camping is the best!

Leanne in Cali said...

Oh wow, I love what you came up with this month! Thanks for sharing all of your details on how you made these fabulous cards. I love the rustic look and the scene details. Your creativity is amazing!!

Isabel Z said...

Absolutely amazing!

MadeByMeghanK said...

So many gorgeous cards! I love each scene and your bright colored backgrounds!

Stef Perry said...

Oh Julee, I think you've crossed over to a verified scene builder with these beautiful cards!! Love them all!

Barbara said...

You can build scenes...WONDERFUL ideas! Amazing kit and add ins!

Heidi said...

Beautiful cards. This kit is a winner!

Kathy Dippner said...

Fantastic cards! Love the yellows and oranges on the third one.

Teri S. said...

Julee, am I allowed to say that I think your cards are the best I've seen yet? I don't want to hurt anyones' feelings. These are really incredible! The different aspects you used to make your scenes stand apart from other ones added so much interest, not to mention the gorgeous colouring/blending/painting you did. You ROCK!

Laura H said...

Love your ideas. Nice cards

Robyn S said...

Robyn S
Love all your cards, so lovely and bright and cute card
critters and coffee together!

Anna said...

Awesome cards! Love them!

Debbie said...

I specially love that since it die. I can invision using it in so many different ways and colors. Beautiful cards

Lisa Norstrom said...

Love how you added color to the silhouette of the boy in your first card. They are all fabulous, but I love all things coffee and that last card is just too cute!!!

Laurie said...

Oh your cards are so awesome-I can’t pick favorite!!! You did some awesome scene building!!!

Hummingbird said...

Lovely cards! Thanks for sharing.

Kirsty Vittetoe said...

These are so awesome! What a wonderful kit!

Colleen said...

These cards are adorable, love the off set of the dock in the first card and the colors on your last card were so pretty

kiwimeskreations said...

Absolutely amazing cards Julee - love your wee scenes, and congratulations on achieving them!
Blessings
Maxine

Gail said...

Julee your work is always a delight to view - love love each item you have created here with the amazing colors and products - but you had me at COFFEE - I have to say - as I sit here drinking my morning Mocha - bring it one! TFS

Valerija said...

Wow what wonderful cards. Love them all! So pretty, well done!

Holly AKA KopyKat said...

OMGosh these are both so cute, I LOVE the little raccoon coffee card, so adorable.

Good Kardma by Jules said...

Such beautiful cards! For not gravitating toward scene-building stamps, you did a great job with them! I especially like the sky on the third card - stunning colors!

SandyK said...

For someone who doesn't make scenes frequently, you're pretty good at it! I just got back from camping on the river, and you nailed it. It brings back so many happy memories!

Moosisk said...

WOW!!! I just love all your cards using this new kit. I am in love with this kit. So many ways to use it! Thanks for the inspiration!

jaynegs said...

Love your cards!!

bzyPTmom said...

Thanks for sharing your awesome cards--I absolutely adore this kit--so many ways to use it!

Jeanne Beam said...

Such wonderful cards! The last one was so cute...
Thanks for sharing.

Stacey Kowbel said...

Such fabulous cards! I love your sky on the sending summer joy card!

judy said...

Beautiful cards! I love the ways that you used the elements on each of the scene cards, giving very different looks to your cards.

Karen Jordan said...

Love your cards! This is a great set, and you did it justice!

Anonymous said...

Love the colors and how they "POP". And coffee with an adorable racoon, what's not to love!

red1979 said...

Great cards! Such colorful backgrounds. You little raccoon is so cute. TFS

Susanbcards said...

Yours are so different from the others on the hop! Really great job, I love the wood grain on the first cards and all the beautiful colors you used throughout.

Karen Day said...

Beautiful cards, Julee! What a great kit for making masculine cards.

Cynthia said...

Great group of cards, Julee! Love the little raccoon!

Sue D said...

Fabulous cards. Love the colors and the adorable coffee drinking raccoon.

Laurie2cats said...

Lovely cards! I love the first lake scene, and that raccoon is adorable!

JC said...

Lovely cards. What a neat idea to just die cut the kid jumping in the lake and coloring it in!

Kelsey Thomas said...

Fun summer cards! :) Love the coffee one.

Darlene DeSario said...

You are very talented. Awesome cards beautiful tyfs

Heidi MyLittleStampingBlog said...

Wonderful cards! Can’t wait to get my kit!

Patti H. said...

Great scenes, Julee! Love your Idaho sunsets& all the innovative designs!