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

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Hi there! The new My Monthly Hero collection for July 2023 from Hero Arts is officially live, and we are hopping along with a blog hop to provide you with lots of inspiration! You should have arrived here from Dana Joy and your next stop is Kelly Taylor. You can also start back at the beginning at the Hero Arts blog. The new kit is absolutely marvelous, filled with serene botanical silhouette images that you can use to create beautiful cards for a multitude of occasions! I created a soothing aqua project in THIS post using only elements from the Classic Kit, pictured below:

The Classic Kit includes • Clear Stamp Set, 6″ x 8″, Dandelion Fancy Dies, 8 Pieces, Parklands Window Fancy Die, Linen Cling Stamp, 3″ x 4″, Blue to Green Reactive Ombré Ink Pad, which when added together retails for $71, but can be yours for only $36.99!

The Premium Kit includes all of the components from the Classic Kit, plus: 11 Picnic Basket Fancy Dies, 2 Picnic Scenic Detail Fancy Dies, Wildflower Ephemera Pack, 45 Pieces, 2 Sheets of White Woodgrain Paper, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 1 Sheet each of Pesto and Passion Flower Cardstock, 5.5″ x 8.5″. Individually, all of these components plus the Classic Kit components would retail for $104, but can be yours for only $49.99! (You can always subscribe to be guaranteed a kit each month, because they sell out frequently and are not restocked!)

Starting this month, Hero Arts is also offering the Premium Elements for purchase separately without a Premium subscription!

My projects for this month’s blog hop utilize lots of white space with bright pops of color to create some lovely meadow scenes, even featuring your best pal!

My first card features the My Monthly Hero July 2023 Premium Kit. The Premium Kit features all of the elements from the Classic Kit, but with the addition of some fabulous extra goodies that coordinate beautifully with the Classic Kit elements! This month’s “extras” are some utterly marvelous standalone picnic dies. I die cut all of the different picnic elements from Arches Cold Press watercolor paper. I used my Karin Brushmarker Pro markers to add lots of vibrant color to the different die cuts. I used to play dress up in my Grammy and Papa’s basement, and they had the most marvelous red picnic basket that I took with me on my adventures. It could be a suitcase, a treasure chest, a bed for puppies… but today, it’s just a picnic basket!

After I’d finished watercoloring all of the images, I wanted a subtle background to allow those vibrant colors to pop from the card. I stamped the large floral silhouette stamp in the stamp set using Granite ink. It embodies the peaceful background of a picnic without adding any extra bulk or color to the card!

I arranged all of the die cuts in a cluster over the gray floral silhouettes, then adhered them using a combination of foam tape and liquid adhesive for lots of dimension. Finally, I heat embossed a greeting from the Premium Kit‘s stamp set onto some vellum using silver embossing powder. I popped it up amongst the picnic using some clear foam adhesive.

My second project features the absolutely darling new Playful Pets bundle. This sweet set features several different pups with some accessories, friends, and special sentiments. After stamping this happy little fella using Intens-ified Black ink, I colored him using my OLO Markers, modeling him after my own dog, Barney. He’s the prettiest shade of blue-gray and has such happy ears and sweet expression, just like the pup in this stamped image! I colored him using the gray markers, then “washed” the entire die cut with a super pale blue-violet marker to give that “blue” undertone. I also stamped and colored a trio of red butterflies for him to chase!

To allow my pup and his pals to stand out, I stamped the new Meadow Floor Bold Prints stamp onto a panel of white cardstock using Granite ink. Even though this is a very soft gray ink, I wanted it to be even more subtle so that the crisp black lines on my pup and the bright red butterflies would really pop, so I stamped it again in the same spot using watermark ink and heat embossed it with White Satin Pearl embossing powder. The embossing powder tones down any ink color beneath it while also providing a very subtle shimmer and shine.

I stamped a greeting from Playful Pets onto a strip of white cardstock, then backed the strip with a slightly larger piece of Pitch Black cardstock to create a crisp black frame around my sentiment. I mimicked that framed sentiment by trimming down the meadow background slightly and mounting it in the center of a full size A2 Pitch Black card front, creating a stark black frame around the edge. I popped up the sentiment strip and die cut elements on the card front using foam adhesive. So simple, but very effective!

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

We will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, July 9th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

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