fluttering butterflies

Hi friends! I am hopping along with Pinkfresh Studio today to share their latest release of washi tapes, stamps, stencils, and dies, called Artsy Floral! You can find the full hop list at the link list at the bottom of this post. I pulled out some favorite shades of pink, purple, and green with lots of shimmering gold to create a classic Pinkfresh look, with lots of crisp white, shiny metallics, and a pop of vibrant color! Let’s get started with the details for my cards.

For my projects today, I used the beautiful new Artsy Floral Stamps, Dies, and Coordinating Stencils, along with the delicate Fluttering Butterflies Stamps and Dies, finally paired with the Notched Corner Frames dies, all products from the Artsy Floral release. I heat embossed the lush blooms from Artsy Floral onto some white cardstock using Iridescent Gold embossing powder, which I find to be a rich, lustrous gold. Some of my other gold embossing powders are a bit dull by comparison! I blended some of my favorite shades from Pinkfresh on these beautiful blooms using the Coordinating Stencils: Ballet Slipper, Sparkling Rose, Raspberry Bliss, Bubble Gum, Sheer Freesia, Hydrangea, Eucalyptus, and Spruce Tips. I will link all of the individual colors in the link list at the very bottom of the post!

Because the images were stamped/embossed and stenciled using the single stamp and layered stenciling sets, it was easy to die cut the finished images with the one-fell-swoop Coordinating Die and have a ton of beautiful floral die cuts to use on my project. I ended up with enough flowers to create not one, but two cards!

For my first project, I selected two different floral bouquets from the Artsy Floral product suite. I also heat embossed the single stamp with the butterflies and foliage from the Fluttering Butterflies Stamp set, embossing with the same lustrous gold embossing powder, this time on vellum to add some ethereal whimsy to the card without adding additional visual weight.

I trimmed down a panel of white cardstock, sized 4″ x 5.25″, and then placed one of the Notched Corner Frames dies that impressed the blanket-stitched design but did not cut out a shape on the interior of the panel. This created a subtle, textured background as a foil for my colorful flowers. I arranged the stenciled flowers on the textured background, allowing some of the vellum leaves to peek out from behind the arrangement to add more shine and interest to the card front. I added a couple of delicate butterflies to the arrangement, finishing everything off with a gold embossed greeting and some new Clear Gems with Gold Dust!

My second project uses up the Artsy Floral “leftovers” from my first project, this time on a bit larger canvas to allow my gold butterflies a bit more room for their fluttering. I trimmed down a white A7 card front and splattered it with some gold glitter watercolors. I also die cut a white Notched Corner Frame, which is intended to proportionally fit an A2 card, but the size works perfectly when the medium sized frame is offset on an A7 card front!

I popped the frame up on my splattered background using some foam adhesive, then arranged my flowers over the top of the frame, allowing a bit of vellum foliage to peek out from behind my floral arrangement. I added a trio of the butterflies, letting them fill up the white space surrounding my flowers and frame. A heat embossed greeting from Artsy Floral and some more Clear Gems with Gold Dust finished everything off! Is there anything more classic than pink, white, and gold?

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

Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel. They also will be giving away a total of TEN $25 gift cards along the hop. The winners will be selected from the comments along the hop, so the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!
Winners will be announced on April 2, 2024 on our GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must check that page & claim their prize within 2 weeks.

Here’s the full hop list in case you get lost:

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Happy Monday, friends! Today is an extra fun Monday, because it’s Hero Arts Premium My Monthly Hero Kit launch day, and we’re celebrating with a blog hop! You should have arrived here from Dana Joy, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. The new Premium Kit features all of the goodies that you love each month from the My Monthly Hero kit with some fabulous extras to give you even more amazing creative options and extend the fun!

Here’s a peek at this month’s Classic My Monthly Hero Kit:

And here’s a peek at the new Premium Kit:

So many wonderful goodies in each kit, but the new Premium Kit has even more incredible value with those gorgeous (and super plentiful) new dies and coordinating rub-ons! As a fun bonus for current subscribers (people who subscribed before January 31), you will receive the Premium Kit upgrade for free to try it out! If you’re interested in subscribing, here are a few details as to why a subscription might be a good route to take for you:

You can check out the subscription packages HERE.

I have three projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

My first two projects use items from the Classic My Monthly Hero Kit and the Premium Kit in a lovely, feminine color combination of Peony, Pink Grapefruit, and Pale Tomato. I blended several panels using this combination in various levels of intensity using Ink Blending Brushes from Hero Arts.

My first project uses elements from the Classic My Monthly Hero Kit. I die cut the beautiful, super detailed window die from the center of one of the lightly blended panels, then used the coordinating layering stencils with the same Peony, Pink Grapefruit, and Pale Tomato shades of ink to create a very subtle, monochromatic blend on the die cut areas.

To add a little extra shimmer and interest to the card front, I used a blending brush to add Embossing Ink (that I’ve dedicated only to use with my Embossing Ink by labeling the back of it) for the top detailed layer of stencils, then pounced some shimmery pigment powder over the top of the sticky ink, combining Perfect Pearls Gold and Pink Gumball. I love using Embossing Ink with stencils-it adds such a fun and interesting element to your layered stencil cards!

For the window opening, I decided to use another super lightly blended panel of cardstock, heat embossing one of the greetings from the included 3×4 stamp set with gold embossing powder in the center of the blended A2 panel. I did some second generation stamping with the little butterfly stamp that is also included in the 3×4 stamp set. I inked up the butterfly with some Pale Tomato ink, stamped it off once on some scratch paper, then stamped it on the blended sentiment panel so that the butterflies looked like they were fluttering behind the sentiment in the sunset. I popped the stenciled die cut panel up with some foam tape over the top of the sentiment panel, popping the wings of the partially-die-cut butterflies up a bit for extra dimension!

My second project features some of the super detailed Fancy Dies from the Premium Kit. These dies are super versatile because they come with a removable detail layer as well as the simple outline frame, which coordinates with the rub-ons that are included in the Premium Kit . I die cut several of the detailed butterflies from some brushed gold foil cardstock and gold glitter cardstock.

For the card base, I wanted to create an ethereal, feminine, mixed-media feel, so I stamped the script background stamp from the new Background Texture Strips stamp set on the more vibrant of the blended background panels using Embossing Ink, again pouncing the Perfect Pearls Gold and Pink Gumball mixture to create subtle shimmer on my background. I also mixed some water in with the pigment powder and splattered it, along with some gold watercolor, on the card front for lots of artsy sparkle and shimmer. To add one final layer of interest and color to the background, I used the butterfly and diamond stamps from the small stamp set in the Kit, stamping full strength on the bottom and stamping off once as the background blending became lighter in color. So many layers on this background!

I popped up the golden butterflies with some foam tape, slightly curving the wings up to add extra dimension. I heat embossed a greeting from that same small stamp set (it packs a lot of punch for only a 3×4 stamp set!) using gold embossing powder, then trimmed it with my sharp scissors and added some coordinating blending to the bottom and edges. A few shiny gems added a bit more sparkle and texture!

My last card today uses a couple of the add-ons. I loved the combination of the shiny gold, Peony, and Pale Tomato inks, so I kept that color scheme going throughout this card, as well! I began by heat embossing the beautiful new Fluttering Butterflies Bold Prints stamp onto an A2 panel of white cardstock. I then blended Peony ink at the top and Pale Tomato ink at the bottom, slackening my pressure towards the center of the card so that the colors blended beautifully together in a smooth ombré.

Next, I heat embossed some of the super detailed butterflies from the aptly-named Beautiful Butterflies stamp set, embossing them in gold on some of Hero Arts’s Vellum cardstock and die cutting them with the coordinating dies (which you can purchase in a bundle with the stamp set HERE). I love using vellum for images like butterflies… I think it makes them so light and ethereal! I also heat embossed a greeting from the new Monarch and Milkweed bundle, die cutting it with the coordinating dies.

I die cut a glittery gold frame using the Museum Frame Fancy Die and popped it up on the blended butterfly background using foam adhesive. I arranged the butterflies so that they were fluttering on the card front, adding some tiny pieces of foam tape behind the solid embossed portions to keep the translucent vellum as clean as possible. I also added the blended greeting die cut, tucking it amongst the fluttering butterflies. The final touch was a few shimmering iridescent pink pearls for some more shine and texture!

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

Hero Arts will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, February 12th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

The new February Collection from Hero Arts is a marvelous array of products that has something for everyone-and the new Premium Kit is going to add so many more options to your crafty time! Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Thanks so much for reading today, and happy hopping!

Pinkfresh Studio “Artsy Floral” Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hero Arts February 2023 My Monthly Hero Kit+NEW Premium Kit Launch+Giveaway!