Hi there! Today, Hero Arts is releasing their new collection for December 2021 (how on earth is it already December?!), called Cities and Neighborhoods! You should have arrived here from Debi Adams, and your next stop is Ilina Crouse. This month’s kit features one of my most favorite of Hero Arts’ products: a super detailed fancy cover plate die! Here’s a peek at this month’s kit:
This month, the kit contains: 4″ x 6″ Clear Stamp Set, 11 Coordinating Frame Cuts, Fancy Cover Plate Die (4.25″ x 5.5″), City Cling Stamp (6″ x 6″), 4 Sheets of Black Cardstock (5.5″ x 8.5″), 3 Reactive Ink Cubes (Berry Smoothie, Fruit Punch, Lemon Drop), and 10 Clothespins. The individual contents of the kit are valued at $70, but the kit is very reasonably priced at only $34.99! If you love the Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kits, you can always subscribe to ensure that you get your own kit every month. I have two projects to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!
My first project features the absolutely gorgeous cover plate die included in the December 2021 My Monthly Hero kit. I cannot get enough of these stunning cover plates from Hero Arts, because you can create super detailed and involved projects by using your various mediums to color the images and create a really involved, detailed project, or you can go super simple, as I’ve done here, allowing the details of the cover plate to be the star of the show!
I began by die cutting the the fancy cover plate die from white cardstock. Next, I used blending brushes to lightly blend Soft Vanilla, Fresh Peach, Soft Pink, and a touch of Soft Purple ink on a panel of plain white cardstock. I was inspired by a beautiful sunset sky that I saw on the last night of our vacation to the Outer Banks this past summer; we had a huge thunderstorm blow through that afternoon, bringing cool weather with it, and that evening, the sky was an absolutely incredible ombré of soft color. After I’d finished blending, I used some White Iridescent Shimmer Spray to add some subtle shimmer to the blended background and give it just a little extra touch of shine.
Once my blended shimmery background was dry, I adhered the detailed cover plate die cut to the front using liquid adhesive to make a nice smooth background. The final touch was to add a silver embossed greeting from the main kit on a strip of white cardstock, which I mounted on the card front using some foam adhesive to help it pop a bit. Simple, but that super detailed die cut doesn’t need much help to make a beautiful project!
My second project features the add-on A Warm Welcome stamp set and coordinating Frame Cuts. I know it’s not technically a Christmas set, but I am still in Christmas card mode, and I immediately thought of a snowy little neighborhood scene when I saw the stamp set. I began by heat embossing three of the outline houses and some trees on some plain white cardstock, then die cutting them with the coordinating dies. I added some medium blue Copic coloring to the doors, roofs, and curtains of each house. Simple, but intentional, touches like this make a huge difference!
I wanted to create the feel of a cozy little neighborhood inside a snowglobe, so I created a window by die cutting the Snowflake Medallion die from a little north of center of a panel of white cardstock. Flat shakers created with plastic stamp packaging seem to be all the rage right now, so I thought I’d try my hand at it for this project. I trimmed down a piece of spare packaging, adding Scor-tape along all 4 edges, but only adhering the bottom three edges to my card base. I allowed the top piece of tape to keep its release tape, creating a little pocket into which I could pour my Snowfall Glitter from Hero Arts. I love using this chunky glitter for shaker cards, because it’s nice and flat and the iridescence is absolutely gorgeous! I removed the release paper from the final piece of Scor-tape and adhered the top of my pocket to the card base to create a super flat shaker. So much fun! I also adhered my Snowflake Medallion die cut card front to the top of my glittery pocket to create a flat shaker.
Next, it was time to assemble the die cuts and greeting. I silver embossed two different sentiments from two different stamp sets, using the beautifully scripty “sending holiday cheer” from Christmas Carolers, and the “from our home to yours” from Christmas Holiday Stamp & Cut XL. I think the combination of these two fonts for one sentiment is so lovely! I adhered them to the bottom of my glittery snowglobe using foam adhesive, while also creating a ground for my little neighborhood. I arranged the house and tree die cuts along the top of the sentiment strips, again adhering them with foam adhesive for lots of dimension. I love how the blue accents of the houses complement the cool iridescence of the glitter!
I am really loving projects with simple color schemes lately…. I don’t know that my projects could ever be called “clean and simple,” but I adore the clean, crisp white with pops of color, especially for Christmas! It’s so fun to break up the simplicity of the white with lots of die cuts and textures and pops of color.
Now for some fun giveaway information!
We will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, December 12th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.
Your next stop is Ilina Crouse. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!
