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Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

Hero Arts

June 2019 My Monthly Hero Release!

Hi there! Today is the release of the latest My Monthly Hero kit from Hero Arts, and this month’s kit is SO fun! We have a jungle theme this month, and the huge stamp set in the kit features an abundance of flora and fauna that are great for creating scenes in a variety of styles. Here’s the full contents of the kit:

In this month’s kit, you’ll receive a large 6×8 stamp set, coordinating frame cuts, Daniel Smith Watercolor Dot card, Intense-ified Black ink cube, and fantastic stencil, valued at over $75, all for $34.99! And, bonus– Hero Arts is donating 10% of the profits of these kits to the WWF to promote jungle conservation! You can shop and do a good deed at the same time! These kits frequently sell out, and once they’re gone, they’re gone… so don’t wait and miss out! You can also subscribe to make sure that you get first dibs every month. The kits will begin shipping from the warehouse on Friday, June 7th. I have a fun watercolored project to show you today, so let’s get started!

For today’s project, I wanted to use one of the absolutely gorgeous add-on dies: Jungle Frame Fancy Die (HA|EH|SSS). I die cut it from some Arches Cold Press watercolor paper, then used my Daniel Smith watercolors to watercolor the beautifully detailed die cut in a variety of greens and browns.

I also stamped two flamingoes from the main kit on some more watercolor paper using some very pale ink. The lack of black stamped outlines on the super detailed jungle die cut had a no-line coloring feel to it, so I wanted to continue that feel with the flamingoes to create an overall hand-painted look. I watercolored the flamingoes in a pretty shade of coral pink, then die cut them with the dies included in the kit.

I created my own sunset background, drawing a line with a half circle to create my sunset, then watercoloring it with some more Daniel Smith watercolors. I layered the watercolored die cuts over the top of my sunset using foam tape, then added a greeting from the kit that I’d heat embossed on Kiwi Hero Hues card stock with white embossing powder and trimmed with detail scissors. I am kind of in love with this card…. so many fun details and that die cut frame was an absolute blast to watercolor!

Well, that’s all for me today! I hope you’ve enjoyed another peek into the latest My Monthly Hero kit! Check out the Hero Arts Blog for even more inspiration and prizes! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous week. 🙂

Man Card… Thursday?

Hi there! Man Card Monday is a few days late this month… sorry about that. The holiday and our travels on Monday threw my entire week off, then my kiddos and I have been under the weather (again… UGH!), so MCM is a little late this week. I have a super cute little baby boy card for you for this month using some of the old/new products from the Hero Arts 45th Anniversary Catalog release, so let’s get started with the details!

For this sweet little card, I kept things clean and simple, using lots of white card stock with a pop of bright blue! I started by stamping the From the Vault Bear and Kitty woodblock stamp on some white card stock using Intense Black Ink. I then colored the image with my Copic markers in a gray and blue color scheme (teddy bears are so cute in gray, don’t you think?). I also stamped the sweet greeting (that could be used for so many occasions!) from Hero Greetings Sending Smiles on a strip of white card stock.

I blended a small blue halo on a white card base using Summer Sky ink and a blender brush to create a super soft lightly blended effect. I adhered the stamped images to the blended panel using dimensional foam adhesive, then added a few sequins for a bit of sparkle and texture.

Well, that’s all for me today! I really enjoy doing the Man Card Monday projects…. pushes me out of my (floral and pink) comfort zone. I hope you’re enjoying them, too! Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a marvelous day!

Hero Arts 45th Anniversary Blog Hop+Giveaway, Day 1!

Hi there! Hero Arts is turning 45 this year, and we are celebrating with a giant, three day blog hop chock full of fantastic inspiration using new and old catalog products, and masses of prizes from so many sponsors… you’re not going to want to miss anything! You should have arrived here from Ellen Hutson LLC, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. I have a project to share with you today (the project you see in the banner above! Eek!)

To celebrate their 45th anniversary, Hero Arts released several “new” stamp sets that contain compilations of images from their older releases. There is such a wide variety of styles and images in this catalog…. it’s fun to see how styles have changed over 45 years in the crafting business! My project today is an anniversary card using the darling little bear from From the Vault Cute Animals and a new anniversary die, along with some ink blending using some of the new Reactive Inks (seriously, these inks are SO fun.) Let’s get started with all of the details on how I created my project!

To start, I stamped the adorable little teddy bear from From the Vault Cute Animals on some white card stock using Intense Black ink, then colored it with my Copic markers and die cut it with the coordinating frame cuts. I also die cut a white tag and stamped a greeting on it from Mix and Match Compliments at a slight angle.

Next, I used the new Fruit Punch Reactive Ink to create some custom colored paper. I wanted a coral-red shade of card stock to match the cheerful, almost hibiscus red of the teddy bear’s heart, so I blended the Fruit Punch Reactive Ink on some plain white card stock using a blending tool (this stuff blends like butter… so smooth), then used that panel of custom card stock to do some die cutting. I first die cut the new anniversary die, then did a partial cut of the Heart Confetti cover plate die to create some little hearts that perfectly matched my color scheme. (Yes, I’m crazy enough to care about such things.)

I then layered all of the die cuts on an A2 Pebble card base in keeping with my gray, white, and bright red color scheme. I first adhered the white tag with foam adhesive after I’d added a red twine bow to the top of the tag. I added the teddy and the die cut anniversary with some more foam tape, adding a few little accents of the matching red hearts, some sequins, and some white Nuvo drops for added textural difference.

Well, that’s all for my project today! Now, this gigantic blog hop has been generously sponsored by some of our favorite crafting companies, including:

(Side note: isn’t it absolutely amazing how all of these companies have come together to celebrate each other’s successes? The kindness and camaraderie amongst the companies are some of my favorite elements of this industry!) Here’s a full list of the prizes up for grabs:

To win, simply leave comments on the stops of the hop! The more comments you leave, the greater chance you have to win! Comment by Sunday, June 2 at 11:59pm PST, and we will announce the winners on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Your next stop on the hop is Ilina Crouse, or you can head back to the Hero Arts blog to get the full blog hop list. Congratulations to Hero Arts on 45 years!! Cheers to the next 45 years! Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy hopping!

May 2019 My Monthly Hero +Giveaway!

Hi there! Today is the first Monday of the month, so that means that the new My Monthly Hero kit is available for purchase! This month’s kit is just plain fun, featuring a unique Art Deco theme, and an absolutely gorgeous cover plate die included in the kit itself, along with lots of fun add-ons. You should have arrived from Caly Person’s blog, and your next stop is Jessica Frost-Ballas’s blog. This month’s kit features a fabulous crafter-of-all-trades theme, and I am absolutely in looooove with it! So many different types of crafting represented with this kit!

This month’s kit features: 6″ x 8″ Clear Stamp Set, 20 Coordinating Frame Cuts, 2 Fancy Dies, Purple Sparkle Embossing Powder 0.5 oz., Clear Embossing & Watermark Ink Cube, Lavender Washi Tape, and 5 Mini Clothespins. The contents of this kit are valued at $70, but is priced at a very pocketbook-friendly $34.99! Seriously, you aren’t going to want to pass this kit up… it’s so. darn. cute. The add-ons are great too:

These kits frequently sell out, and once they’re gone, they’re gone… so don’t wait and miss out! You can also subscribe to make sure that you get first dibs every month. The kits will begin shipping from the warehouse on Friday, May 10th. I have a couple of projects to show you today, so let’s get started!

For today’s project, I wanted to use the fantastic fancy die that is included in this kit. I love that the My Monthly Hero kits have so many fantastic dies with them, especially these fancy dies that are standalone and so intricate!! I die cut the gorgeous heart yarn ball from some Azalea card stock, then blended Raspberry Jam ink with blender brushes around the edges of both die cuts. I also die cut the knitting needles from some silver foil card stock to give them some authentic shine.

Next, I used the new Knitting Pattern add-on to heat emboss a subtle background on an A2 panel of Peony card stock. I trimmed a strip of white card stock and added it slightly off center on the heat embossed panel as a sort of ground for my hot pink yarn die cut.

I stamped a greeting from the main kit on a strip of white card stock, then layered all of the die cuts on the card base using foam tape. I love that bright pop of the hot pink yarn die cut on the subtle pale pink and white background!

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

Hero Arts is giving away one kit to a lucky commenter (and if you’ve already purchased one, they will reimburse you!). All you have to do to be eligible is leave a comment on each stop on the blog hop. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win! Here’s the full lineup in case you got lost:

For the MMH Blog Hop:

The Hero Arts Blog
Michelle Short
Caly Person
Emily Midgett
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Janette Kausen
Ilina Crouse
Yana Smakula
Lydia Fiedler
Julee Tilman
Laurie Willison
Amy Kolling
Debi Adams
Jennifer McGuire
Nichol Spohr
Libby Hickson

Man Card Monday, a day late!

Hi there! This month’s Man Card Monday comes on a Tuesday, sorry about that. I didn’t want to distract from the Pinkfresh Studios release yesterday! (You can check out that blog post and enter to win the entire new release here.) Today’s Man Card Monday is an ocean-themed Father’s Day card using some fabulous supplies from Hero Arts, so let’s get started with the details!

This Man Card Monday was inspired by this fabulous seahorse die set from the My Monthly Hero Add-Ons from a few months ago. Male seahorses actually carry and give birth to the baby seahorses, so I thought they would be a perfect focal point for a Father’s Day card! I began by die cutting some of the Paper Layering Seahorses from some Adriatic card stock. My husband and I have twins (though he most certainly didn’t carry and birth them haha!), so I die cut an extra little baby seahorse to give the daddy seahorse his own set of twins!

For the background, I created a swirling alcohol ink panel using teals and gold, then added some gold glitter paste using the Starry Night stencil. While that was drying, I die cut the “happy” 4x from the Happy Stamp and Cut using gold vellum, then adhered them all together to make a dimensional die cut. I also heat embossed the “father’s day” onto a strip of white card stock using gold embossing powder.

Once the glitter paste was dry, I used foam tape to adhere the die cuts and greeting to the card front in a cluster. I know, it’s a little more glitter than you would normally think of for a “man card,” but I couldn’t resist adding that extra bit of texture to the alcohol ink background! Texture paste, to me, is a bit messy, and so of course that works on a guy card. (ha!)

Well, that’s all for April’s Man Card Monday. I hope you’re enjoying the series and finding some inspiration for those forever-difficult “man cards.” Thanks so much for dropping by today, and have a marvelous day!