You’re Fintastic | Hero Arts May 2021 Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hello, crafty friend! It’s release day at Hero Arts and we’re celebrating the May release with a blog hop full of inspiration and a giveaway. If you’ve arrived from Pocono Pam’s blog, you’re right on track. If you’d like to start from the beginning, head on over to the Hero Arts blog.

I love this month’s ocean inspired theme; it brings back memories of diving and makes me want to head to the beach! My two cards today feature images from the new My Monthly Hero kit. This month’s kit is valued at $70 but is priced at the regular $34.99 kit price. It’s a fantastic deal!

You’re Fintastic

For my first card, I stamped and colored the large coral reef once and then cut it in half to use on opposite sides of the card. Another option would have been to use one half on each of two cards for a 2-for-1! Here are the steps to recreate this card:

1. Heat emboss coral reef and fish images onto Canson XL watercolor paper using Onyx pigment ink and clear Ultra Fine embossing powder 
2. Color in the images with watercolor markers and a Water Flow Brush filled with clean clear water (I used Karin Brushmarker Pro markers: Magenta Red, Red, Amber, Pale Orange, Gold, Lime Green, Turquoise, Royal Blue, and Plum)
3. When the images are dry, use the coordinating dies to cut them out
4. Use a paper trimmer to cut the coral reef image roughly in half; set all die cuts aside
5. Onto a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel of Mist cardstock, splatter white paint (I used white gouache which I watered down a bit with clean clear water)
6. When the splatter is dry, smoosh a Clear Embossing & Watermark Ink pad along the bottom inch or so of the panel
7. Pour Sand embossing powder over the bottom of the panel and tap off excess; then re-add a few pinches of powder to make sure that some of the darker and larger pieces of embossing powder are on the panel. Do not tap off (these larger pieces may not stick as well).
8. Apply heat tool to the bottom of the panel until the embossing powder begins to melt. Continue to heat from bottom, or switch to heating from top now that the larger pieces of embossing powder are melted and won’t be blown away
9. Temporarily position the die cuts to get a sense of where your sentiment should be, then stamp the sentiment in Onyx pigment ink
10. Use foam tape to adhere the coral reef halves to opposite sides of the background
11. Use glue, glue dots, or foam tape, for a variety of dimension, to adhere the remaining elements to the background
12. Adhere the card front to a card base

Sending You A Little Vitamin Sea

For my second card, I combined jellies from the My Monthly Hero kit with the new Swirling Tide Border Die With Frame. I love this frame die!

To recreate this card:

1. Use Clear Embossing & Watermark Ink and white embossing powder to heat emboss the jellyfish three times onto Mist cardstock. Use a stamp positioning tool if possible.
2. Use colored pencils to color in the jellyfish (I used yellow and orange Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils. If you used a stamp positioning tool, you can re-heat emboss the images to cover any pencil marks that strayed onto the heat embossing.
3. Use the coordinating die to cut out the jellies and then set them aside
4. Cut a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel of Mist cardstock
5. Use a blending brush to blend Tide Pool ink around the borders of the panel, about an inch inwards from the edge. Set the panel aside.
6. Use the Swirling Tide border die, without the frame, to cut a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel of Arctic cardstock
7. Use some thin lines of glue around the border of the Swirling Tide die cut to adhere it to the panel of Mist cardstock; leave enough unglued area at the edges to be able to tuck in the jellies
8. Stamp the sentiment, from the My Monthly Hero kit, in Onyx pigment ink
9. Use foam tape to adhere a full jellyfish near the sentiment
10. Use foam tape (do not remove release paper) just under the heads of the other two jellyfish and, after estimating their placement and how much of their tentacles overhang the side of the panel, trim the ends of their tentacles (do not discard)
11. Adhere the two jellyfish to the panel, tucking their tentacles underneath the frame
12. Adhere the trimmed off tentacle ends underneath the frame at the top and the bottom of the cardfront
13. Adhere the card front to a card base

Thanks so much for visiting! Your next stop is the lovely Jennifer Kotas. Be sure to scroll down for a photo of the card I shared during the countdown, as well as for information about the giveaway and the full blog hop list.

Giveaway

Hero Arts will give away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, May 9th at 11:59 PM Pacific time, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Blog Hop List

Hero Arts
Channin Pelletier
Dana Joy
Daniel West
Debi Adams
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Libby Hickson
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis
Michelle Short
Mindy Eggen
Pocono Pam
Seeka <– You are here
Special Guests:
Jennifer Kotas
Jennifer Shurkus
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel
And visit on Instagram:
BreAnn Loveland
Kailash Naidoo