Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

February 2018 My Monthly Hero Blog Hop!

Good morning! We are celebrating the release of the darling February My Monthly Hero kit with a blog hop full of inspiration for both the main kit as well as the super cute add-ons, all of which are now available for purchase! Here are some details of the kit:

Kit Contents:

6″ x 8″ Clear stamp set
24 Coordinating dies
3 Ink cubes (Nest, Robin’s Egg, Feather)
2 5½” x 8½” sheets Stone woodgrain cardstock (111 lb. cover)
2 5½” x 8½” sheets Bubinga woodgrain cardstock (111 lb. cover)
2 Mini grapevine wreaths
This kit contents are individually valued at over $70, but Hero Arts has priced them at $34.99…. such a great value! The kit is available for a limited time only – once it’s gone, it’s gone. Kits begin shipping from Hero Arts on Friday February 9th. You can also subscribe to receive the kits every month to ensure that you never miss a kit!
I used the main kit in my countdown post on the Hero Arts blog (which you can see here), so I thought I would use one of the adorable add-on sets for my blog hop post today: A Little Bird Told Me.

To start, I die cut a little bird house using one of the new Infinity dies (available at certain retailers now, but will be available at the Hero Arts store on February 15!) and a Circle Infinity die from some Pool Layering Paper and Midnight Mix papers. I stamped the birdhouse using a (sadly) retired Hero Arts woodgrain background stamp, but you could also use the lovely embossed woodgrain papers that come with the kit! (I didn’t have those papers when I made this card, but expect to see them soon, because they’re GORGEOUS.)

I stamped the bird from A Little Bird Told Me and a few of the flowers using the “rock ‘n roll” technique. Essentially, you stamp your image once with a lighter color, then add some “shadows” with a darker color. For the bird, I stamped first with Wet Cement, then added some robin-esque details with the Vintage Ombre Metallic Rust. I repeated the process with the flowers using Soft Pink and Ultra Pink. I used a similar technique for the branches; since they are all one piece, I stamped the brown part of the branch after wiping the brown ink from the leaves, then added the green, being sure to wipe any extra green from the branches so as not to create a muddy mess. I die cut all of the different elements with the coordinating dies and set them aside.

For the card base, I blended some Pool ink around the edge of an A2 Snow panel to create an ethereal “sky,” then added some vellum and white clouds cut with the Nesting Cloud Infinity dies. I arranged all of the die cuts on the card front to get an idea of placement, then stamped my sentiment from the A Little Bird Told Me stamp set using Intense Black ink. After adhering all of the die cuts, I decided that the branches needed a little more fullness, so I added some of the standalone die cut branches from the main kit die cut from plain white paper, then colored with some aqua and brown Copic markers and adhered them directly to the card base. I like doing a mixture of dimensional and liquid adhesive to add lots of depth to the card.

The final touch was to add some of the new Hero Arts Lacquer Pen to some of the flowers. (This accent pen is part of the new catalog and will officially be released in the Hero Arts store on February 15!) And that’s all! Lots of layers and dimension on this project, and that’s okay by me! Sometimes you just need depth and texture on a project.

Now, for some giveaway fun! Hero Arts will select one winner from the comments across the blog hop… the more comments you leave, the more entries you have, and the more chances to win! Giveaway closes Sunday, February 11th at 11:59pm, and the winner will be announced the following week. (If you have already purchased the kit, Hero Arts will reimburse you!)

Now, your next stop on the hop is the incomparable Jessica Frost-Ballas!

The Hero Arts Blog
Jennifer McGuire
Yana Smakula
May Park
Emily Midgett
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Wanda Guess
Lydia Fiedler
Amy Tsuruta
Janette Kausen
Michelle Short
Ilina Crouse
Clare Prezzia
Libby Hickson

Well, that’s all for me today! I hope you enjoy the hop! So much beautiful inspiration to see… good luck with the contest! Have a marvelous day!


Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Love the scene on your card.
    there is so much dimension to the design.
    thanks for sharing
    txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply

  15. Hi

    How great to see that a designer has used the stamps but with the dies too. I love the whole design on your project, thank you. :O)

    Reply

  28. Very nicely done. I love the vellum for the clouds–wonderful idea. The added texture on the branches is just the perfect touch. Thank you.

    Reply

  32. Beautiful card! Bird, birdhouses and flowers! How can we go wrong! Love this kit! Thank you for the inspiration!

    Reply

  46. Oh my goodness Emily I love the scene you created and I saw the woodgrain paper on someone else’s work and it looks AWESOME! I HAD to pin this to try. L♡VE!

    Reply

  70. I love that “rock and roll” effect you created on the bird! I’ve never used stamps in that method and it’s so inspiring to learn this through the blog! I’ve only used ink pads of classic colours like jet black, combined pastels and hot pink. Looks like there’s a need to add more to the collections 😰😰

    Reply

  96. Your card is so sweet! I love how your layered up all the diecuts and stamps to create the lovely scene. You can almost hear the little fellow chirping! 🙂
    Thanks for sharing your work! 🙂

    Reply

  106. Love the texture and depth – I bet a Wood Grain Embossing Folder would work beautifully on the Bird House too. 🙂

    Reply

  113. Beautiful!! Love the colours you used and the sky is perfect. It all together feels like spring, especially with those pretty flowers

    Reply

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