Hi there! Today, Hero Arts is officially releasing their Summer 2023 catalog, and it’s full of a huge variety of beautiful new products perfect for traditional cardmakers and mixed media lovers alike! You should have arrived here from Dana Joy, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. I have a pair of cards for you today, both totally unique in both color scheme and composition. Let’s get started with the details!
My first card uses my favorite product from the catalog, hands down: Peony Hot Foil Plate. You might recognize this image from the Artistic Peony stencil that Hero Arts released a few months ago; this hot foil plate takes that main image and turns it into an enormous floral focal point rather than a full background pattern. I adore pairing hot foiling with different coloring mediums, and felt moved to color this giant peony bloom a vivid magenta like my favorite real peonies! I hot foiled the image onto some Hammermill cardstock (my preferred cardstock for hot foiling) using some satin platinum hot foil.
I colored the image using my OLO Markers. When working with large floral images like this, I like to use at least four markers to ensure a large contrast of colors and shadows, creating great dimension and shape on the images. I also like to add a dark gray or black to the deepest crevices of the flower petals; this helps to enhance the shadows and make it pop off of the page that much more! I also don’t have to worry about the alcohol marker reacting badly with the foil. I find that the alcohol marker glides off of the hot foil quite nicely with the use of a colorless blender.
After I had finished coloring the incredibly vibrant image, I wanted to keep the rest of the card simple. For the greeting, I used the new Together Stamp & Cut, cutting the “together” die cut three times from some more crisp white cardstock and adhering them together to create a dimensional die cut sentiment. I also heat embossed the coordinating greeting onto a strip of white cardstock using some coordinating platinum embossing powder. I adhered the dimensional die cut greeting down with liquid adhesive, then added the greeting strip with some foam tape. No additional gems or sequins needed… I just wanted that giant pink peony to be the star of the show!! That sentiment is perfect for a wedding card, don’t you think?
My second card features the pretty new Beautiful Day stamps, as well as the lovely new Ornate Flourish Stencil. I began by stamping the floral images from Beautiful Day onto some white cardstock using Intens-ified Black ink, then used my Copic markers to color them in a pretty combination of warm pink, coral, and peach, with some minty green leaves for good measure. I die cut the finished images using the coordinating dies included in the Beautiful Day bundle.
For the card base, I began by blending the edges of a white card panel with Peony ink using a blending brush. This super pale pink ink creates an almost antiqued look on the white cardstock. I then laid Ornate Flourish stencil over the top of this blended panel and blended Soft Blossom ink over the stencil, creating this pretty, feminine pattern for the background of my card front.
I arranged the flowers in a swag on the left side of my stenciled card front and adhered them with foam adhesive. I stamped a greeting from Beautiful Day onto some more white cardstock using black ink, then popped it up with some more foam tape. Such a pretty, feminine card with some simple flowers and a softly patterned background!
Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for some fun giveaway information:
We’ll be giving away two $50 gift cards, drawn from the comments left along the hop. Comment on all the blogs for more chances to win! You have until Sunday, May 28 at 11:59pm to enter. The winners will be announced on the Hero Arts blog.
Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. You can also start back at the beginning at the Hero Arts blog. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!
