Happy New Year!

New Year cards are not typically on my list of things to make... but Hero Arts has recently dropped some stamps that are perfect for fancy celebrations! I just had to put together a Happy New Year card complete with sparkles in all colors.

Mostly, I just had the urge to use this new Sparkling Fireworks Bold Print background stamp. I inked it with Embossing Ink, stamped on Nautical cardstock, and heat embossed with Rose Gold powder (by the way, SUCH a gorgeous, new-to-me color of powder). 

For the centerpiece, I heat embossed the diamond Geometric Frames stamp with Gold powder on Charcoal cardstock, and the Happy New Year sentiment on Nautical cardstock with the Rose Gold powder. Both pieces were die cut with the coordinating dies and my Compact Cutter.

To finish off the sentiment centerpiece, I die cut some fancy branches from the Decorative Accents Fancy Dies from gold glitter cardstock. The more shimmer the better!

Have a very Happy New Year!

 

Folk Winter Animals Holiday Card

It's time for one last holiday card before Christmas! This card uses a mixture of goodies from Hero Arts.

First, I started with some Deluxe Smooth White Cardstock to use the Snowflake Wreath hot foil plate. It had been a while since I plugged in my Glimmer Hot Foil Press! I used dark silver foil for the wreath. I then inked the edges of the panel with Arctic ink.

Inside the wreath, I stamped and colored some images from the Folk Winter Animals set. They were then die cut with the HA Compact Cutter and glued on the panel.

The sentiment is heat embossed with Silver embossing powder over this beautiful Adriatic cardstock. I glued the whole panel on a A2 card and woohoo! Another holiday card for last minute sending :)

 

Christmas Robbins Holiday Card

Somehow Christmas is less than one week away! It's not too late to throw some holiday cards into the mail for family and friends. Today I'm sharing a last minute holiday card that features Hero Arts Christmas Robins stamps.

I stamped on Deluxe Smooth White Cardstock with Intense Black ink. The images were colored with my Copic markers and die cut using the darling desktop Compact Cutter by Hero Arts.

I wanted just a subtle something in the background, so I stamped the Rough Dot rubber stamp with Arctic and Mist ink. I also used a sentiment from one of the new transfer sets, Holiday Message Strips.

For the finishing touch, I added the Sparkle Lacquer Pen to the snow caps - we can't have snow without some shimmer! The decorated panel was glued on top of Cherry Cardstock to help it pop. Now it's ready to be thrown in the mail!

Thanks for stopping in and I hope you have a nice week before Christmas.

Other Supplies Used:

MISTI - Most Incredible Stamping Tool

Foam Adhesive

Stamp Press

Copic Markers

 

Simple Silver and Gold Holiday Cards

 It's not too late to whip up some quick holiday cards for friends and family. Today I'm sharing two cards that feature Stampers Anonymous Festive Print rubber stamps. I just love the woodblock look of these images - it was an instant purchase for me!

The main snowglobe images were stamped on Pitch Black cardstock with White embossing powder from Hero Arts. I trimmed the black panels with Postage Infinity Dies and layered them on silver glitter paper. 

I also stamped some of the smaller trees, houses, and the heart then embossed with Gold embossing powder. These images were then fussy cut with my cutter bee scissors and glued to the scene.

Have a great holiday season!

Folk Winter Animals - Five Ways

I stencil so nice I used it twice. Well, five times. I had to try it out in a variety of colors and I love them all!

The featured stencil today is Folk Winter Animals stencil set. It's a simple layering stencil set with only three layers, so making multiples is quick! 

This one is my personal favorite... gotta love the teal and purple combo! I inked up the first layer with Arctic ink and the second layer with Orchid. The top layer of all cards is Hero Wax in Gold (except one uses Black Hero Wax). 

I cut the stenciled layer with Rounded Rectangle Infinity Dies. All cards use the same sentiment "Season's Greetings" from Holiday Season Messages bundle. Again, these cards were about making multiples quickly, so the same sentiment keeps it extra simple!

This one surprised me. The colors were based off my co-workers favorite colors (black and forest green) and I love how the combination turned out. The card above uses Granite and Forever Green ink with Black Hero Wax.

I wanted to try a more monochromatic look so here's a purple version with Gold wax! The card above uses Passion Flower ink then Amethyst ink. This card was also for a coworker whose favorite color is purple!

Another monochromatic look, this time with pink! This card uses Cotton Candy ink then Raspberry Jam.

Here's the last one, also for a coworker. The card uses Papaya and Azalea ink with Gold wax.

Don't sleep on this stencil! Thanks for stopping by :)

My Monthly Hero Release Day!

 Happy Hero Arts My Monthly Hero December 2023 Release Day! Today I'm showcasing a card using some of the beautiful December Add-On releases, and then more cards that feature the great December 2023 kit. Be sure to leave comments throughout the hop for a chance to win a $50 gift card. Enter by Sunday, December 10th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog.

I was determined to use the Hole Punch Edge Fancy Dies in a different way. The first attempt to create a background was a success! I used the large and small square die strips with alternating cardstock in Papaya and Azalea. The colors on this card just so happen to be our wedding colors :) and we have a milestone anniversary coming up this summer!

For the sentiment, I die cut the Geometric Frames with Adriatic cardstock in the diamond shape and heat embossed the border stamp in Brass (my absolute favorite embossing powder). The K initial is from the Letter J-N Fancy Die set and is also fully heat embossed in Brass. Finally, the Happy Anniversary sentiment (from the Message Basics set) is stamped with Aquatic ink.

These two cards feature the classic December My Monthly Hero Kit. It's also somewhat of a 2-for-1 card, so the second one came together so easily!

The moment I die cut the Alphabet Cover Plate and poked out all the letters, I knew I had to reuse it as a stencil. First, I covered a sheet of Watercolor cardstock with Fuchsia + Gold Metallic Spray and Bright Yellow + Copper Metallic Spray. Once dried, I die cut the Alpha Cover Plate for the sentiment of this card (and the background of the next card).

I spread Hero Glitter Paste over a watercolor panel with my Alpha Cover Plate handmade stencil. Once dried, I sprayed with Ocean Blue + Gold Metallic Spray and Blue + Shimmer spray. I also rubbed some White Hero Arts Wax over random parts of the panel. Now it's time to create the sentiment!

I stamped some of the ocean-themed images from the kit and watercolored with some Hero Arts Reactive Inks in Splash, Blue Hawaii, Purple Galaxy, Lemon Drop, Taffy, and Berry Smoothie. I used Precision Glue to add on the 'Oh Hello' and stamped images.

This card was so simple, since I reused the paper that was already cut with the Alphabet Cover Plate. I just glued it on top of some Pitch Black cardstock. All I needed to do was cut the Alphabet Plate again on silver Glitter Paper, arrange the 'Thank You' and done!

Enjoy the rest of the hop! You should have arrived here from Ilina and your next stop is Essie. If you get lost along the way, just hop back to the Hero Arts blog for all the links. 

My Monthly Hero December 2023

Hello everyone and welcome to the My Monthly Hero countdown for December 2023! There are so many incredible cards created with this kit. I know you will find a lot of inspiration over the next couple days.

Today I'm showcasing a card that features the December 2023 My Monthly Hero Premium Kit. The Numbers stamp set is a great addition to the main alphabet kit, and there are so many uses for it! For my card, I created my own background with the individual number stamps. I stamped them randomly with Hero Arts Embossing and Watermark Ink, then heat embossed with White Embossing Powder. This was all done on the Watercolor paper that comes with the kit.

I then watercolored the background using the included Watercolor Pencils and brush. They blend so well and the color was easy to re-wet and manipulate as I wanted for the background. Once the watercoloring was dry, I splattered it with the included Gold Glimmer Metallic Ink.

For the main images, I used the main kit Alphabet Cover Plate Die to cut the HBD letters from Paradise cardstock. The balloons were stamped from the main kit XL Alphabet with Intensified Black ink and colored with Pool Party and Splash Reactive Inks. "40 is just a number" is from the Premium Kit Numbers stamp set. I accented the letters and the shadows of the clouds with the Sparkle Lacquer Pen.

I also made this version, but realized my background was upside down... woops! But you all know I like to share my mistakes, too. So here she is in all her glory!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the Hero Arts inspiration!

Hero Arts Creative Team Member!

 I can finally share the big news! I am officially a member of the Hero Arts Creative Team!

Hero Arts has been such a big part of my paper crafting journey. One of my first clear stamp sets was purchased at Joann's... a Hero Arts woodland creatures set. I can't believe I'm now a member of this talented team!

I've decided to share some of my favorite recent cards that feature Hero Arts. Thanks for joining me!

Thank you for being here! Please be sure to follow me on Instagram  @rwkrafts where I post even more cards than I will ever blog about :) 

Grateful - Thanksgiving Autumn Cards

Somehow Thanksgiving is one week away? Not really sure how it managed to sneak up so fast but, I should probably have at least one card in my stash to mail out to family.

 Or maybe even TWO CARDS?!

Both of these cards feature the Grateful Pumpkin Bundle and Fall Leaves stencil from Hero Arts. This is also my first time embossing with a stencil and I'm not sure what took so long.

The pumpkin and leaves were all colored with Copic Markers. I then die cut with my Hero Arts compact cutter. I wanted a subtle background, so I created this monochrome look. The background uses plum cardstock with Grape Juice ink over the Fall Leaves stencil. I then embossed the stencil which gives a subtle raised impression.

The sentiment is heat embossed with Hero Arts Brass embossing powder (my favorite forever and ever). I finished it off with Hero Pearls in Gold.

The second card follows the same steps as the first. This card uses Bermuda cardstock with Aquatic Ink over the Falling Leaves stencil. The sentiment is stamped with Intense Black ink over Papaya cardstock. 

Finishing details are Hero Pearls in Teal and Gold. I also diecut the whole panel with the Postage Stamp Infinity Die.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to send at least two Thanksgiving cards this season :)

SUPPLIES

Some links are affiliate links, which help support this site and have no impact on you. Thank you!

Hero Arts Grateful Pumpkin Bundle

Hero Arts Fall Leaves stencil

Postage Stamp Infinity Dies

Copic Markers

Plum cardstock

Bermuda cardstock

Papaya cardstock

Grape Juice ink

Aquatic ink

Brass embossing powder

Embossing ink

Hero Pearls Gold

Hero Pearls Teal

Hero Arts die cutter

Holiday Poinsettia Cards

 Time to stock up on holiday cards! I'm trying to be proactive about my holiday cards this year, mostly just not putting them all off to the very last weekend before Christmas. I'm also working on creating more card pairs... If the items are already out, might as well make two cards!

I spent a full day a couple weekends ago diecutting and assembling several poinsettias. They didn't have a planned placement, I just knew I needed to make them and use them.

All of the beautiful dies used on this card are from the Concord and 9th Festive Corner Cuts set. I also used a mix of Concord and 9th cardstock, but most colors are from the holiday cardstock pack.

It just hit me that there's not a single stamp on this card and that is very unusual for me!

There were some poinsettias left over so I created card #3! This time the corner die was double cut and I went with a much softer color palette. The papers are all from Concord and 9th except the gold glitter paper.

Happy poinsettia building! This simple die cut set is definitely worth a purchase. You won't regret having this in your holiday stash.

SUPPLIES

Some links are affiliate links, which help support this site and have no impact on you. Thank you!

Concord and 9th Festive Corner Dies

Concord and 9th Falala Paper Pack

Concord and 9th Assorted Cardstock Pack

Glitter Cardstock

Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutter

Hammermill Heavyweight White Cardstock

Tombow Mono Multi Glue