Hero Arts September 2022 My Monthly Hero Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! Today, Hero Arts is releasing their latest My Monthly Hero and coordinating product collection, and we are celebrating the imminent arrival of autumn! (We will just ignore that it’s still most likely sweltering outside haha) You should have arrived here from Daniel West, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Here’s a peek at this month’s kit:

This month’s kit includes: • Clear Stamp Set, 4” x 6”, • 6 Coordinating Frame Cuts, • Rub-On Transfer Sheet, • Cling Background Stamp, 6“ x 6”, • 2 Sheets Each of Cardstock in Sand & Antique Ivory, 5.5” x 8.5”, • Rose Gold Metallic Floss, 5 yds. The contents of the kit retail individually for $70, but the cost of the kit is $34.99! These kits are limited edition, so once they’re gone, they won’t be restocked! To keep from missing out on future kits, you can always subscribe to be guaranteed to receive your My Monthly Hero kit each month!

I have a couple of vivid projects using an oft-neglected color in my typical color palette: burnt orange. Both of my projects feature lots of watercoloring and saturated color, mimicking the intensity of the colors of autumn. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by gold embossing the main floral bouquet from the September My Monthly Hero kit onto some watercolor paper. This is an extremely detailed image, so I made sure to stamp my embossing ink multiple times to ensure that I captured all of that beautiful detail. I then wet the entire embossed panel, both in and around the image, and dropped in lots of diluted color in shades of burnt orange, hot pink, and mustard yellow from my Daniel Smith palette. After the watercoloring had dried, I went back and added some details and more intense color to the larger flowers and foliage. The initial layer of watercolor helps to make sure that all of the little areas in the middle of the busy bouquet are attended to. I knew that I wanted a vivid, color saturated project, so adding the color around the edges of the bouquet helps to avoid those pesky white die cut edges, as well!

Next, I used the background cling stamp that is included in the My Monthly Hero kit with some tone-on-tone stamping to create a subtly interesting background. I stamped the background on Pumpkin cardstock using the coordinating Pumpkin ink, then used a blending brush to blend some more Pumpkin ink around the edges to create a vintage, almost distressed look.

I die cut an Oval Woodgrain Infinity Die from some more Pumpkin cardstock and popped it up on the card front using foam tape. I added a double layer of foam tape to the bouquet to give it lots of height and really make it the focal point from the textured orange background, placing it in the center of the frame. I added a gold embossed greeting from the My Monthly Hero kit. I am kind of in love with this card, and it makes me want to use orange more often in my crafting. The monochrome background is saturated without detracting from the pretty floral bouquet, while the extra height and texture added from all of the foam tape keeps things super interesting.

My second project uses the new Fall Leaves Cover Plate die. I die cut the background from some more watercolor paper, then taped it down to my watercolor board. I saturated it with plenty of clean water, then dropped in more of the same color palette that I used for the first card: burnt orange, hot pink, mustard yellow, and added in a bit of deep violet. I swirled and maneuvered the colors until I was satisfied with the color meld and movement. Some of the color pooled around the edges of the die cut areas, highlighting the pattern and details of the leaves. I splattered some metallic Glimmer paints on the dry watercolored background for extra texture!

I heat embossed the previously-released Grateful Pumpkin images using gold embossing powder on some watercolor paper. I used the same colors to do some more wet-on-wet watercolor on the leaves and around the edges of the pumpkin. I love the way the watercolor works on the wet watercolor paper. It creates such life-like color on the leaves, especially! I added lots of intense orange to the pumpkin, then die cut all of the images.

I trimmed the edge of the Fall Leaves Cover Plate die and mounted it on an Eggplant card front, then gold embossed a greeting from Grateful Pumpkin on a strip of Eggplant cardstock. I arranged all of the die cuts and sentiment strip on the card front, adhering them with lots of foam tape. I added a few iridescent gems from my stash to add one last element of shine!

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

Hero Arts will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, September 11th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!