Hero Arts My Monthly Hero March 2023 Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hi there! Hero Arts is releasing their newest collection today, and we are hopping along to celebrate! You should have arrived here from Dana Joy, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. You can also start at the beginning of the hop at the Hero Arts Blog for the full hop list. This month, we are focusing on all things fruity! Think fruit, veggies, farmer’s market, farms… there’s even a cute little farm puppy! The March My Monthly Hero kit features some beautiful fruit images, as well as some of the new neon liquid watercolors. Here’s a peek at the Classic Kit:

The Classic Kit includes: Clear Stamp Set, 6″ x 8″, 10 Coordinating Dies, Fruit Cling Stamp, 6″ x 6″, Intens-ified Black Ink Cube, Clay Fruit Embellishments, 2 Sheets each of Kiwi and Coral Cardstock, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 5 Sheets of Watercolor Paper, 4.25″ x 5.5″. This the main kit that you’ve come to know and love over the years, filled with amazing products for an amazing value at $36.99! (You can always subscribe to be guaranteed a kit each month, because they sell out frequently and are not restocked!)

Last month, Hero Arts debuted the new My Monthly Hero Premium Kit, which features all of the wonderful products previously mentioned in the Classic Kit along with the Fruit & Veggie Window Die, 3.7″ x 4.5″, 2 Liquid Watercolor Neon Brights in Orange & Green, and 5 Mini Brushes. The My Monthly Hero Premium Kit contents retail for $106, but the kit is yours for $49.99. Such an incredible value!! I have two projects to share with you today featuring the new kits, so let’s get started with the details!

The release of the new Neon Watercolors with the Spring 2023 catalog (you will receive Neon Orange and Neon Green with your Premium Kit) meant that I pulled out the Neon Ombré ink pads! I kept things bright and cheerful with the ombré colors, adding some dramatic flair with intense pops of black.

For this card featuring the Classic Kit, I did some watercoloring with the new Neon Watercolors. I black embossed several of the images from the Classic Kit onto some watercolor paper, then used the Neon Watercolors to add lots of bright color to the fruity images. I die cut the finished images with the coordinating frame cuts, also included in the kit. While I had my watercolors out, I also black embossed a greeting from the main kit’s stamp set and did a light neon watercolor wash over the top, fussy cutting it with my sharp scissors.

To coordinate with my super bright fruits, I used the Ombré Red to Purple and Ombré Yellow to Orange ink pads to blend a super bright background. I splattered some Black Liquid Watercolor on the blended panel to add a little mixed-media artistic feel to the background and break up some of the super bright color.

I die cut a frame using the Looking Glass Square Frame from some Pitch Black cardstock (which is in stock right now, so if you’ve been wanting to purchase… now is the time! It’s the best black cardstock everrrrr). I popped up the frame on my neon blended background using some foam adhesive, then added my fruit in a cluster around the frame using a double layer of foam tape for extra height. I die cut a few leaves from the Tropical Florals Fancy Die set with black glitter paper and tucked them in amongst the fruity cluster-cutting them from black reminds me of tropical jungle silhouetted against a saturated tropical sunset. The final touch was to add a few iridescent black gems for some sparkle!

My second card features the gorgeous, detailed frame from the Premium Kit, still juxtaposing the super bright neon colors with crisp black. I began my card by black embossing the background cling stamp included in the Premium Kit onto some watercolor paper, then taping it down to my watercolor board. I did a neon rainbow wash over the embossed background using the Neon Watercolors, then left my background to dry while still taped down to my watercolor board to reduce warping.

To create the front for my shaker card, I die cut the beautiful fruity frame die included in the Premium Kit twice: once from a full sized A2 Pitch Black card front, and once from a smaller square of black glitter paper. I trimmed the detailed die cut image from the black glitter paper to create a frame, which I adhered directly over the top of the Pitch Black frame. It subtly helps to emphasize the details on the fruity frame! This one would be gorgeous watercolored or colored with alcohol ink markers, but I wanted the fruity background to be the star of the show today.

I trimmed down some stamp packaging and adhered it to the back of the die cut black panel, then filled my flat shaker with the darling clay embellishments that are included in the kit. I pulled out an older word die set, Friend Words Fancy Dies, and die cut it from some white cardstock. I left the die cuts inside of the negative space and blended some more Ombré Red to Purple and Ombré Yellow to Orange over the die cut, then die cut another set from some plain white cardstock to layer beneath the blended die cuts, creating extra height. I adhered the dimensional die cut words to the front of my card. Because the shaker bits are thin and flat, we can have a flat shaker with no extra foam tape required!

Now, to completely switch gears, I have created this soft, vintage-y card using only die cuts, some soft ink blending, and white cardstock! The new March Release has a ton of gorgeous detailed fancy dies that are marvelous cut from colored cardstock, or, as I’ve done here, with a little subtle ink blending that makes a massive impact! I die cut the pieces from the new Cabbage Corn Crate Fancy Die and Grocery Bag Fancy Die from white cardstock, as well as the previously released Bouquet Accessories Fancy Dies, also from white cardstock.

After die cutting all of the components from white cardstock (the exception was the wrap for the bouquet, which I cut from Hero Arts’s heavyweight vellum cardstock), I pulled out Sand, Orchid, Soft Blossom, Kiwi, and Moss inks, as well as small blending brushes and went to town adding color to the plain white die cuts. All of the color on my card was created by using small blending brushes with several shades of ink to add subtle ink blending to the die cuts. It’s amazing what you can achieve with a few ink pads, a brush, and some white cardstock!

To add extra dimension to the ink blended die cuts, I employed a Post-It note as a mask. To get the mask exactly where I wanted it, I lightly bent the partially die cut areas and tucked the Post-It note beneath the partial die cut, as shown in the photo above, so that I could get the darker green ink precisely where I wanted it. I also used this technique with the husks of white corn to keep the Sand ink where I wanted it, as well as on the crate, to add extra shadows behind the cross piece.

After I had completed all of the ink blending, I partially inked up the Burlap Bold Print background stamp using Sand ink. I wanted a softer, more vintage feel to the card and didn’t want the background to be completely perfect, so I didn’t worry about using my Misti for perfect inking this time. I left my stamp on my work surface facing up, casually inked it up, and pressed my paper into the inked up background. I arranged the blended die cuts on the burlap background, placing the flowers and corn into the shopping bag and the cabbage into the crate. I love how it looks like you just came from the farmer’s market! I popped the die cuts up with foam adhesive for extra dimension. For the greeting, I used the new Produce Labels Stamp & Cut XL, die cutting the rectangle from white cardstock and adding the sentiment in Wet Cement with the accents in Sand ink.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! As you can see, these new products work well with a range of styles and color schemes. Super versatile and oh so fun! I don’t normally like “punny” sentiments that much, but I think the fruity puns are just so cute.

Now for some fun giveaway information:

Hero Arts is giving away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, March 12th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

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