Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

A Blog Named Hero

A Blog Named Hero: Winter Holiday!

Good morning! Today marks the start of a new challenge with A Blog Named Hero. This month, we are collaborating with Simon Says Stamp to help celebrate their fabulous Die-cember release! The theme is:

I was lucky enough to get to play with the Sensational Snowflakes die from Simon Says Stamp, and combined with Hero Arts holiday sentiments… it’s like they were MFEO (made for each other. Sleepless in Seattle, anyone?) Instead of keeping the snowflakes in their pretty swirly pattern like the die is intended to be… I decided to use the individual snowflakes to create a wintry background.

I started by taking a panel of A2 card stock and using Distress Oxide inks in Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, and Faded Jeans to blend an ombre background. (I cannot get over how beautifully smooth the Oxide inks blend. Incredible.) I die cut the snowflakes from Sensational Snowflakes several times from plain white card stock, then placed them randomly (but still somewhat strategically… somehow.) all over my blended panel.

Next, I used an older Hero Arts Stamp & Cut set to die cut the silver glitter Holidays, then stamp the “happy happy” on a strip of white card stock using Salty Ocean ink. I adhered the Holidays die cut with liquid adhesive and added the sentiment strip with dimensional foam adhesive.

To add a bit more detail, I used a white gel pen to add some little white dots, as well as adding some of the Hero Arts Winter Sequin Mix sporadically across the card front.

Please help support A Blog Named Hero by shopping through our links. These are affiliate links, at no additional cost to you. We appreciate your support.
Simon Says Stamp
Ellen Hutson
Hero Arts
Well, that’s all for me today! I hope you’ve enjoyed this project and will participate in the challenge! All you have to do is create a Hero Arts Winter Holiday project (hopefully using some Simon Says Stamp goodies!) and link it up to our blog post to be eligible to win a prize from our sponsor for the month: Simon Says Stamp! (Be sure to read all of the rules for the contest….we wouldn’t want anyone to be left out for not following the guidelines!) Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!

A Blog Named Hero: CASE A Designer!

Good morning! Happy Monday! Today marks the start of a new challenge over at A Blog Named Hero! This month, we are challenging you to copy a designer! Simply choose a card from the plethora of inspiration that our design team has provided you and use that as your starting point for your own project! Our sponsor this month is Neat and Tangled. I have SO many ideas for pairing Hero Arts and Neat and Tangled products… they work so beautifully together. For my project, I chose to CASE this card from my teammate, Coralynn! I loved her little scene on the bright white background with just pops of bright color.

Here’s my take on it:

I started by die cutting the fabulously clever scroll note from Hero Arts’s Christmas List Stamp ‘n Cut (SSS|EH) from plain white card stock, then added the sentiment from the coordinating stamp set using Memento Black Tuxedo ink. Next, I used C00 and C1 Copic markers to add shading to the scroll so that it would look a bit more dimensional. Next, I stamped the sweet little elf and some accessories from the Elves and Their Shelf (SSS|EH) stamp set using Memento Tuxedo Black, then colored them all with my Copic markers and fussy cut them (I don’t have the dies, so I got up close and personal with those black lines! My Copics bled a little, so I wanted to remove as much as that as possible.)

I adhered the scroll down onto my white A2 card front with liquid adhesive, then used dimensional adhesive to pop up my elf and accessories. I trimmed down the top and bottom of the white card front so that I could leave a strip of red and white striped pattern paper peeking out from the top and the bottom. The final touch was to add some shimmer to the elf’s hat using my Spectrum Noir sparkle pen and add some Glossy Accents to the ball of the snowglobe.

Well, that’s all for me today! Now, it’s your turn! Choose a card from one of our design team’s projects to use as your inspiration, then add your own spin to it and link it up to our blog! Be sure to read all of the rules for the challenge so that, if your entry is chosen, it’s not disqualified. 🙂

Have fun, and good luck!

Jump Start the Holidays with Hero Arts!

Good morning! Today, the team at A Blog Named Hero are participating in a wonderful blog hop celebrating the crafty comeback of Lea Lawson. If you don’t know Lea’s story, click here. We are so excited to join Hero Arts in celebrating her return to the crafty world! The entire A Blog Named Hero team is here to provide you with some inspiration to help jump start your holiday crafting! You should have arrived here from Donna’s blog and your next stop is Kelly’s blog.

There’s something about a pretty bird surrounded by snowflakes and pine boughs that screams winter to me. To create this wintry project, I started by blending Hero Arts Stonewash, Pool, and Soft Pool ink on an A2 panel. I then stamped snowflakes from an older mini set by Lia Griffith using white pigment ink and blended some more white pigment ink around the edge of the panel to really give it a frosty look. I also added a few dots here and there with my white gel pen.

After I had created the background panel, I began stamping the focal point of the card. I stamped the beautiful cardinal (female cardinals are brown, which is a cousin of gray, just go with it haha!) from Color Layering Cardinal using Shades of Gray cubes and the pine boughs were stamped using both Antiqua and Emerald Green inks. I fussy cut them all, adding in a few loose pine boughs. I adhered the main branch and cardinal with dimensional adhesive, then added in some loose boughs using regular adhesive to add lots of dimension.

To create the greeting, I die cut the peace from the Peace Stamp ‘n Cut using silver foil, then stamped the rest of the greeting onto some thin strips of card stock and mounted them with foam tape. The last step was to add a few sequins from my stash.

We will be giving away a $25 gift certificate, randomly chosen from all of the comments left at every stop along the blog hop. To enter, leave a comment on any of the blogs by Friday, November 10th at 11:59pst, and the winner will be announced on Lea Lawson’s blog on Sunday, November 12th.

Have fun, and good luck! 🙂

A Blog Named Hero: One Layer!

Good morning! Today marks the beginning of another challenge for A Blog Named Hero. This month, we are teaming up with CAS-ual Fridays to present our challenge:

One layer. Eeek. Don’t panic though. The A Blog Named Hero design team is here with plenty of inspiration for you.

For my card, I worked with the Tin Roof background set from CAS-ual Fridays. It’s such a pretty, dainty set. I chose to do some masking to create a one layer card…. but I used a few layers of ink. I started by cutting an A2 sized piece of masking paper, then die cutting an oval from the center. I adhered it to my top-folding A2 card base, then stamped the pretty Tin Roof background over the top using some pale blue ink.

Next, I used the Hero Arts Hello by Lia Griffith stamp set with some Versafine ink to stamp my bold sentiment over the pale stamped background. To make it pop even more, I covered the sentiment with clear embossing powder and heated it up. It always amazes me how much more crisp lines are when you add a little clear embossing powder to it. I also used one of the tiny flowers in the mini Hero Arts set to stamp the centers of the background pattern in a bit darker shade of blue, just to add a little more interest.

The final step was to use my fine tipped black pen to add tiny little black dots to the centers of the flowers.

Not gonna lie, this month’s theme challenged me. But sometimes, that’s a good thing! It’s good to think outside your comfort zone and stretch your creative wings. Now, it’s your turn! Create a one layer card using at least one Hero Arts project, then link it up to our blog post to be eligible to win a fabulous prize from our sponsor, CAS-ual Fridays! (Be sure to read all of the rules to ensure that your project is eligible to win!)

Please help support A Blog Named Hero by shopping through our links. These are affiliate links, at no additional cost to you. We appreciate your support.
Simon Says Stamp
Ellen Hutson
Hero Arts

Have a fantastic Labor Day, friends! While you’re celebrating with barbecues and parades, I hope you’ll take a moment to thank your union members, because without them, the working world would look entirely different! Enjoy your time with your family!

A Blog Named Hero, August Edition!

Good morning! Today is the beginning of a new challenge for A Blog Named Hero. Our theme is embossing, and this month (appropriately) we are collaborating with Wow! For my project, I wanted the embossing to shine, so I chose the beautiful Spice Market background stamp.

I started with a panel of turquoise A2 card stock, then heat embossed the gorgeous Spice Market stamp using Wow’s Calypso Embossing Powder. Look at how beautifully that detail came out!!! So sparkly.

Next, I die cut the Stamp ‘n Cut Hello three times from black card stock and glued them all together to create a dimensional embellishment. I covered them in Spectrum Noir shimmer pens, then added some Glossy Accents to the top. I heat embossed the sentiment onto a black strip of card stock using white embossing powder. Finally, I die cut some hearts from the black card stock and added them in a downward cascade, covering them in Glossy Accents.

Easy peasy! The gorgeous Spice Market background from Hero Arts really shines through on such a simple card, though.

Now, it’s your turn! Create a card using at least one Hero Arts product and following the Embossing theme, then post your card on our link up. Have fun, and good luck!

Please help support A Blog Named Hero by shopping through our links. These are affiliate links, at no additional cost to you. We appreciate your support.
Simon Says Stamp
Ellen Hutson
Hero Arts