Emily Midgett
Hi there! Popping in quickly to announce the winner of the $30 Altenew gift certificate…. Thank you to everyone who entered!!
Congratulations to
Lisa Stein!
Congratulations, Lisa! Please contact winners@altenew.com with the subject line Winner from Emily’s Giveaway Hop. Enjoy your new Altenew goodies!
Good morning! Today is the day… the July My Monthly Hero kit is now available for purchase, along with all of the fabulous add-ons! The Hero Arts Creative Team is hopping with some incredibly talented guests to showcase these new products and give you some inspiration for when you receive your own kit! 😉 You should have arrived from Clare’s blog and your next stop is Ilina’s blog.
This month’s kit is a darling Summer Carnival theme, and it includes:
6″x8″ stamp set
10 fancy dies
A2 Fancy Die
3 ink cubes (red and blue reactive, white Unicorn pigment)
3 4″x6″ chipboard postcards
This kit is valued at over $70, but is available to you for only $34.99! Talk about bang for your buck. These kits have a tendency to sell out quickly, so don’t hesitate to get your own, because once it’s gone-it’s gone! Afraid you’ll miss out on a future kit? Be sure to subscribe so that you’re first in line to get your own kit each month!
I’ve created two projects today, the first one featuring the main kit itself, and another using one of the adorable add-ons. I know carnivals are supposed to be bright, primary colors, but I wanted to go a different direction with some soft pastels, vellum, and stripes. I started with a panel of white card stock, masking some stripes and using my ink blending tool to blend Soft Sky ink. I peeled back the masking paper to reveal some pretty, soft blue stripes. I also die cut one of the Infinity Tag Frame dies from some more white card stock, then again blended Soft Sky ink to create a custom colored die cut panel.
 I heat embossed and die cut several of the fair elements from the main kit using white embossing powder and vellum, then used my Copic markers to color on the back of the vellum images to create an ethereal, stained glass look. On my blue Infinity Tag Frame die cut, I stamped the smaller silhouette image using Dusty Blue ink for a tone-on-tone look, heat embossed the sentiment in white, then layered all of the die cuts on top using liquid adhesive. I popped up the Tag die cut using foam adhesive, then added some jute twine to add a bit of textural interest.
For the second project today, I wanted to use the sweet Ornate Carousel stamp and die set. I had a pastel rainbow in my head, so I used my stencil brushes to blend Soft Pink, Soft Apricot, Soft Yellow, Mint Julep, Soft Pool inks down the front of my white card base. Using the stencil brushes instead of an ink blending tool gives a lighter, more ethereal look.
For the focal image of the card, I stamped and die cut the beautifully intricate unicorn image and the top and base of the carousel using Intense Black ink. I colored the images using my Copic markers, then added some sparkle pen and Crystal Lacquer over the top of my unicorn to give that glossy look of the real horses on the carousel. I adhered the die cuts to a vellum oval die cut, then hid my foam adhesive behind the die cuts and popped it up on the rainbow card front.
Well, what do you think? These images are SO detailed…. they’re just gorgeous to work with!
Now, for a giveaway!!! We are giving away one kit as a prize to one blog reader – selected from the comments across all of the blogs in the hop. The giveaway closes Sunday, July 8th at 11:59pm, and the winner will be announced the following week. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win! (If you purchase a kit and then win the contest, Hero Arts will reimburse you for your purchased kit!) Here’s the full hop lineup, so you can leave your comments:
The Hero Arts Blog
Amy Tsuruta
Clare Prezzia
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Jennifer McGuire
Kelly Latevola
Laurie Willison
Libby Hickson
Lydia Fiedler
May Sukyong Park
Michelle Short
Nichol Spohr
Yana Smakula
Thanks so much for visiting, and good luck!
Good morning! I have a special video and post today. My friend and Ellen Hutson teammate Ardyth Percy-Robb is celebrating a special milestone: 1000 YouTube subscribers. You’ve probably seen Ardyth’s fabulous videos; they’re usually brief but chock full of wonderful tips for getting great card results! To celebrate, she’s having a special video hop with lots of fantastic guests.
For my project today, I chose to work with one of my new favorite mediums: Tombow Water Based Markers. I’ve been a little frustrated with how the Zig Markers fade, so I’ve been on the search for new mediums. I recently tried the Tombow markers at a retreat and liked them so much that I bought several different color packs.
Here’s my video:
Watch on YouTube here.
In case you can’t watch the video, here’s a brief description of how I created the project.
I started by die cutting and heat embossing the large bloom from Hero Arts’ Peonies stamp set onto some Arches Cold Press watercolor paper using gold embossing powder. I then added four different layers of color to the peony blooms using four different shades of Tombow Dual Brush pens: a pale peach, bright orange, watermelon pink, then bright fuchsia purple. The more layers of color you add to your project, the more depth and dimension you can add to your floral image.
After I had colored my peony, I used Distress Oxide inks in Abandoned Coral and Picked Raspberry to create a pretty ombre background. I then used white pigment ink and the Crossing Waves stencil from Hero Arts to add a very subtle patterned background to my blended panel. I arranged the flowers on the card front, adding dimensional foam adhesive to the back of the peony, and adhering the foliage with liquid adhesive to add extra dimension and texture to the card front. I added a die cut sentiment from Concord and 9th’s Fabulous Phrases die set. The final touch was a few jewels from Pretty Pink Posh.
Well that’s all for me today! There are some fantastic guests on this hop, so I definitely encourage you to start at the beginning on Ardyth’s video channel. Not to mention…. there are prizes to be had!!! Get comfy with a nice (iced?) beverage, and settle in for some seriously wonderful inspiration! Thanks so much for visiting, and have a marvelous day!
Hi there!
Just popping in with a quick post to say that I have been doing some cleaning in my craft room. I recently purchased some new storage units from IKEA, and for my Mother’s Day gift, my sweet husband put them together for me and helped me totally rearrange my office! As a result, I realized how very many craft supplies I have that don’t get nearly enough love from me and thus began setting items aside to sell. I had so many that I decided to do some fun mystery packages chock full of brand new or very gently used stamps and dies.
I have priced these bundles to sell…. all of the items included are at least 50% off retail. These would be marvelous for a stamper who is just starting out or is looking for a great deal! Several of the companies included in my packages very rarely, if ever, have sales, so getting these items at 50% off is an absolute steal and a great value.
You can view all of the information on how to purchase here on my For Sale page.
Thanks so much for visiting, and happy shopping! 🙂
Good morning! I have another post using some goodies from the new May 2018 Essentials By Ellen release! I’ve paired the new Block Alphabet dies with one of my favorite older Essentials By Ellen sets: Bokeh Dots. I love creating bokeh backgrounds with bold greetings!
To create my background, I started by creating a “smooshed” background using Distress Oxide inks. I started by tapping Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, and Faded Jeans inks onto a craft mat, then spritzed them with water and placed my A2 watercolor card front face down on the ink and “smooshed” it around a little. I let the first layer dry, added some more ink to the craft mat and spritzed it with water, and laid the watercolor paper face down again. The properties of the Oxide inks allow the inks to layer over the top of each other instead of sinking down into the layers beneath. So cool! I then added the Bokeh dots with both white pigment and silver pigment inks.
I die cut the “You got this” sentiment using the new Essentials By Ellen Block Alphabet dies and some silver glitter paper. Using my T-square, I adhered my greeting to the card front and added a few Pansy jewels to add some more sparkle. The final step was to trim down the bokeh panel and add some silver washi tape along the edges of the card base to tie in the silver glitter die cuts.
Well, that’s all for me today! I hope you’ve enjoyed the new release from Ellen Hutson…. SO many fun new products!
