Skip links

Sixth Street Sundries

Emily Midgett

Hero Arts

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

A Blog Named Hero and Chibitronics!

 If you’re looking for The Ton’s Summer Release, Day 1 post, please click here. 

 Good morning, again! I’m back with my second post for today! Today marks the beginning of a new challenge for A Blog Named Hero. This month, we are teaming up with Chibitronics, those wonderful purveyors of lights for your crafty projects! Our theme for June is “interactive.” For my card today, I chose to use these fabulous little lights to create an interactive night sky scene with some great Hero Arts products. Let’s get started on the details of how I created this card!

I started by creating my night sky. I used an A2 sized panel of white card stock, then used my blending sponges to blend Hero Arts’s True Navy, Grape Juice, and Raspberry Jam down the front to create a beautiful summer night sky. Next, I heat embossed my sentiment (from Hero Arts’s Dreams Are Made) along with the pretty star clusters using silver embossing powder. Next, I added some more stars from the same stamp set, but for a more subtle look, I stamped them first in silver Delicata ink, then brushed some Perfect Pearls over the top to add a bit more shimmer. I punched out three holes, then backed them with vellum to create a pretty glow. The last step was to add a die cut bridge using some pretty glossy black card stock. After the card front was finished, I punched some holes in the front so that I could begin my light construction on the card base using the Chibitronics starter kit.

I’m not going to lie, I was a tad intimidated by these fantastic little lights. My husband is an electrician, and when he talks about specifics from his job, my eyes start to kinda glaze over in boredom, because it’s so far outside of my realm of expertise that I have utterly NO clue what he’s talking about. (Love you, mean it, buddy!) I asked him if he would mind being on standby in case my complete right-brain-ness took over and I was unable to complete the circuits for my project. However!!! I am pleased to report that after watching a few videos on YouTube (namely this one from fellow teammate Jessica and this one from the ever helpful Jennifer McGuire), I was able to create my project without his help! Using my holes as a guide, I created a template on my card base, complete with a map of where to put my circuits and which direction to place the positive and negative stickers, then added the copper tape and battery (I found the battery “house” tip from Jennifer McGuire’s video extremely helpful!). Hooray!!!

I will say, that in Jennifer McGuire’s video, she recommends using 3 layers of foam tape as the “walls” for her battery house so that you have to push down on the battery to complete the circuit, thus creating the “interactive” element, but my tape must be slightly thinner than hers, as my lights stay on by themselves if the stars are aligned right and I don’t breathe directly on it haha. Next time I will use four layers of foam tape. 🙂 Hindsight is 20/20.

Here is the finished product with the lights off. Amazing how bright those tiny little lights are!! Love it.

Now, it’s your turn! Create an interactive card using your Hero Arts products, then be sure to link it up to our blog post to be entered to win a prize from our fabulous sponsor, Chibitronics!


Good luck!! Thanks for stopping by!

Merci 

Good morning! I’m back today with this project that would make any Francophile proud. I have been obsessed with my Daniel Smith watercolors lately… I’m loving all of the color options, and the pigment moves SO beautifully on the watercolor paper. I’m in love. Happy sigh…

Anyway, I purchased the Eiffel Tower add on with April’s My Monthly Hero… What is more Parisian than the Eiffel Tower? A beautiful stack of macarons fit to grace the window of a French patisserie. I’ve been watching The Great British Baking Show while I craft at night, and all of the delicate French goodies they make are swoon-worthy. Since I’m too chicken to attempt to make my own tower of real macarons, I thought I would stick with a medium I know: watercolor.

I started with a few stamp sets from The Ton: Sweet Macarons and dies, and the Sending Peonies and their coordinating dies. I die cut them from Arches Cold Press paper, then used my silver detail embossing powder to heat emboss the images. I watercolored the macarons and the pretty peonies using Alizarin Crimson and Quinacridone Magenta. To create my background, I used the same watercolors to create a pretty ombre wash down the front of an A2 sized panel. I started by getting the panel really wet, then using watered down color to start, then gradually adding more color and using clean water to pull the color down into a nice faded wash.

I die cut the beautiful Eiffel Tower from some black glitter paper and added the “merci” from Hero Arts Ooh La La stamp set heat embossed on a strip of vellum. I added a pretty rouge shimmer frame cut from the Double Stitched Rectangle dies from The Ton. I popped it up with some dimensional adhesive, then added the pretty tower of macarons and the peonies.

This might be one of my new favorite cards. I love when products from other companies work so well together! Thanks for stopping by today. Have a wonderful day, friends!

 

Be your own kind of gorgeous. 

I am seriously so excited about the beautiful April kit from My Monthly Hero. It’s destined to be one of my favorite stamp sets, of that I’m sure. The dresses speak to my inner Parisian fashionista, plus they are so fun to watercolor, and you know me and my watercolors.

I started by heat embossing three of the pretty retro dresses using Versafine ink and clear embossing powder on some Canson Montval watercolor paper. Choosing a color scheme was a bit of a challenge, because as I looked through my Instagram feed the other day, I realized that I use far too much pink. So, in trying to branch out a bit, I decided to use coral and green, (which is obviously so different from pink…. haha!), but I thought it was very reminiscent of springtime in Paris. I watercolored the dresses using my Zig markers and a damp paintbrush.

For the background, I started with a panel of plain A2 sized white card stock and heat embossed the beautiful Garland background from Hero Arts using silver pearl embossing powder. In order to make this stand out more, I decided to use some my Clarity Stencil Brushes and Hero Arts Bubblegum dye ink to blend an ombre down the front of the panel, concentrating the color towards the top and growing lighter further down. I think this background looks like those beautiful lights that you would see strung up at a Parisian garden party in the 50’s. So pretty, and just enough pattern to add some interest to the background but not draw attention away from the dresses.

I added the sentiment from one of the add-on stamp sets for the April MMH kit. It’s an Audrey Hepburn set called You Are Fabulous. I simply stamped it in Versafine, heat embossed it in clear, and because some of the little pearls were showing through the embossing, I repeated the process once again using my MISTI, adding a second layer of embossing.

I die cut three of the adorable dress form dies from glossy black card stock and adhered those beautiful dresses to them, then adhered them to the ombre panel, using dimensional adhesive for the coral dress in the front. A few coordinating sequins and a pale mint mat for the ombre panel finished it off.

Well, what do you think? I’m in love with this set and can’t wait to play some more.

Have a fabulous day, friends!