... the April 2021 "My Monthly Hero" Kit
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!
Mid month I have received another "My Monthly Hero" Kit from Hero Arts.
I don't know if you have any subscriptions with one or more of the creative companies, but I'm always super excited before a new theme is being released. You get teasers before the release date on all social media outlets and then you see those amazing ideas from different designers... and then you have to wait (for what seems like forever...) for your own kit.
And I'm always amazed, how creative the actual brains behind those kits are. Incredible work!!!
“You can't use up creativity. The more you use the more you have.” - Maya Angelou
This months kit is so cool again! Check out the picture below.
It has these solid stamps included - that are kind of geometric, mid-century style animals and flowers. There's a dog, cat, fox, bunny, bird, fish, butterfly, dragonfly, a tree, flowers and lots of sentiments. Also included in the kit are the coordinating dies, three little ink cubes in the colors "Tangerine", "Raspberry Jam" and "Grape Juice", as well as an ink blending brush and three (!!!) rotating stencils.
And these are the cards I made:
"Hello" card
For the "Hello" - card I used extra heavy card stock (110lb - Neenah) for the card base as well as the "work" layer. I decided to use the inks that came with the kit and I used them in an ink blending kind of way - starting with the Tangerine on top, continuing with the Raspberry Jam and finishing with the Grape Juice on the bottom. For the first stencil layer I used the one with the quarter circles.
For a second stencil layer I used the stripy one (sorry, don't know how else to call them). I decided on giving the card a little more structure and used ALTENEW Embossing Paste and colored it with the inks. With those three blobs of paste I tried to also blend them the same way as I did before.
While the paste was drying, I stamped the animals for this card as well as the sentiments. I decided on the fox and the rabbit (because they kind of symbolize my good friend M. and me) as well as two dragonflies (on those I used two inks per stamp to get an ombre look) and the text "Hello, I miss having you around".
I used vellum (ink blended with Tangerine and Raspberry Jam from the back) to hold one of the sentiments in the middle of the card and arranged the other animals around it. For the dragonflies (as you can see in the detail pics) I decided to just attach them on the body part and let the wings move up a bit.
To finish up the card, I added some "Rainbow Party" sequins by Simon Says Stamp as well as three stamped and cut hearts from the stamp set.
"Happy Birthday" card
The second card is a rainbow Happy Birthday card.
The card stock is usually the same - extra heavy card stock (110lb - Neenah) - and in this case with lots of color going on, I decided again not to use a middle layer.
I used Ranger Distress Oxide inks for the ink blending in the background and used all three stencils this time - one after the other.
I stamped the dragonflies from the set again - I just love them - and used ALTENEW "Obsidian Black" pigment ink for a crisp look. I used the same for the "Happy Birthday" sentiment as well as the tiny heart. To give the card a little sparkle I chose the Nuvo "Aqua Shimmer Pen" on the dragonflies and heart, as well as some "Rainbow Party" sequins by Simon Says Stamp - arranged according to the colors underneath.
"I'm Grateful" card
Since the beginning of the year I wanted to make a card using Pantone's "Pandemic Colors for 2021" - Ultimate Gray and Illuminating (Yellow). The colors symbolize last year's overall mood (gray) as well as the light of the end of the tunnel.
I used a soft yellow card stock as a base for the stencil work and ALTENEW's Crisp Dye Inks in "Gray Denim", "Fresh Lemon" and "Pure Graphite" - in that order on top of each other.
I tried to have a heavier hand on the bottom of the card and blend it out towards the top.
I used a medium gray (80lbs Michael's) card stock as a medium layer.
For the stamps I decided on the flowers as well as two butterflies from the set and used the ALTENEW "Obsidian Black" ink again for a good contrast. As on the other cards I attached the pieces with Scotch Foam Tape and made sure that the butterflies look as if they just landed on the paper.
The Nuvo "Aqua Shimmer" pen on the "butterflies" as well as some selected clear sequins from Simom Says Stamp finish up the card.
Additional Birthday card "39i"
Just for fun and as a very first try with the stencils, I decided on a birthday card for my boyfriend.
I used the embossing paste in combination with some silver glitter powder to add some sparkle - in the end it's a "guy's" card BUT it's his birthday ;-)
The dog reminds me of our car mascot "Buddy" (don't ask...) and since we decided that we look not a day older than 40, we celebrate our 39th birthday over and over again - but with the addition of the current letter from the alphabet... I'm sure you understand. Hahaha!
By the way, the "Happy" and "39" are from Spellbinder's March 2021 "Large Die of The Month" kit and the "i" I borrowed from the Pinkfresh Studio "Lea's Ornate Lowercase" alphabet dies.
The card was a hit and like every time, I could have made lots of more cards with this set... but there are so many piles of new material on my desk right now - I have to come back to that one later.
Thank you again for reading my post - that was another long one and I'm sorry for that.
Please make sure to like and comment this post and let me know if you have any questions :-)
Love,
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