Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

Hero Arts Winter 2022 Catalog Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! Today, the fabulous folks at Hero Arts are officially releasing their new Holiday 2022 Collection! This collection features the sometimes beautiful, sometimes whimsical, sometimes creepy (think zombies!), always creative images that you have come to associate with Hero Arts! AND! I am super excited that Hero Arts has released their own hot foil plates! These new plates are absolutely fantastic, filled with classic images, some of which you can use year round for non-holiday projects. You should have arrived here from Daniel West, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. I have two watercolored projects to share with you today using some of the new goodies, so let’s get started with the details!

My first project features the stunning new Finch Greetings stamp and die bundle. I stamped the image on some Arches cold press watercolor paper using Contour Ink, then watercolored the images using the Hero Arts Daniel Smith watercolor palette. I die cut the images with the coordinating dies included in the bundle.

For a subtle background for my winter birds, I used the oldie-but-goodie Greenery Fancy Die, cut from the center of a white A2 card base. I popped it up with foam tape on a solid white A2 card base to add some subtle texture and interest to the background while still keeping a relatively “nature-esque” theme. I love how the foam tape adds so much extra oomph to the background-even the white-on-white! Easily one of my most favorite techniques.

I popped up the birds with some more foam tape, creating a double layer of foam tape in spots for tons of height. For the greeting, I used one of the beautiful scripty greetings included in the Finch Greetings stamp set, which I heat embossed in gold on some of Hero Arts’s Heavyweight Vellum cardstock. I tucked it behind the watercolored bird die cuts, sneaking dots of adhesive in the areas that would be covered by the solid watercolored die cuts.

I have some more watercoloring for my second card, featuring one of the gorgeous, brand-spanking-new hot foil plates: Ornament Border Hot Foil Plate! I first hot foiled the image (I love how detailed and enormous this image is!) onto some hot press watercolor paper using gold foil. The smooth surface of the hot press watercolor paper makes it perfect canvas for the hot foil!

I taped down the hot foiled image to my watercolor board to try to minimize the warping, then added lots of vivid color in muted shades of teal and green, with a few tiny pops of deep berry red for the berries! The hot foil behaves similarly to embossed images, creating a kind of resist technique. So fun to use with so many mediums!

Once I had finished the watercoloring and allowed the image to dry completely overnight (allowing it to dry naturally while taped down rather than forcing it to dry with a heat tool also minimizes warping!), I added a greeting created using the new Christmas Words Fancy Dies. I die cut the top layer from some Holiday Sparkle Glitter Paper, then cut two more layers from plain white cardstock. I adhered all three layers together to create dimensional die cut greetings. Very simple, but very effective, and so sturdy- they would hold up great in the mail!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for some fun giveaway information:

Hero Arts will give away *THREE* $50 gift cards, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Wednesday, August 31st at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. You can also start at the beginning at the Hero Arts Blog. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. Your cards are both stunning! LOVE them both, but wow, the finches stand out as being so super impressive — lots of gorgeous details you included! Also, thanks for introducing me to the contour ink, which looks so useful. I will have to try that!

    Reply

  4. I have to agree with Amy Solovay, the card with the finches is absolutely beautiful. I love the effect with the vellum cardstock sentiment. I must invest in it soon.

    Reply

  9. I absolutely love both of these beautiful cards! I think I have to have that new hot foil plate! And I love the Christmas finches. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  16. What you did with those finches is seriously gorgeous! Great work!! The ornament border card is also a beauty! TFS – Your work is always brilliant!
    Lori S in PA

    Reply

  20. Gorgeous birds on the “finch” card and your ornament card is SO pretty as well, Emily. Your artistic ability is incredible!
    TFS –
    Lori S in PA

    Reply

  25. Finch Greetings is one of my favorites from this release and you’ve showcased it so beautifully! But I also love the second card with that beautiful background and sparkly sentiment!

    Reply

  30. Beautiful cards, That ornament image has been a favorite of mine since it started appearing in my emails, but ai also love the finches mounted on that gorgeous greenery die.

    Reply

  50. Your Finch card was just breathtaking. Coloring amazing. Of course, I like the Ornament Cover Plate with the foiling. Have that one on my wish list. Thanks for sharing your lovely cards with us.

    Reply

  75. I had no idea you could hot foil on watercolor paper, thanks for the tip I will certainly try that. Your watercoloring is beautiful and I love what you created with that Ornament Hot Foil Border Plate.

    Reply

Trackbacks

Leave a Reply