Hi everyone! The Hero Arts Creative Team is celebrating the release of the July Hero Studio with a blog hop!

The July release is all about road trips. This reminds me of the road trips I took with friends from San Francisco to Tucson, listening to Bryan Adam’s “Summer of ’69 from our favorite road trip mixed tape as we watched the sunset in the distant horizon. The Card Kit of the Month is all this and more!

Contents of the Kit:

– On the Road HeroScape Coordinating Dies
– On the Road HeroScape 6×8 Stamp Set
– Let’s Go Die Set
– Pine Core Ink Cube
– 10 Sheets of Cardstock (1 of each color), 5.5″ x 8.5″ (Sicily, Coral, Bellini, Waterfall, Teal Topaz, Blue Spruce, Peridot, Beeswax, Saffron, Carrot). – Mirror Paper, 1 sheet – 5.5″ x 8.5″

I will be using the embossed resist technique for both my cards today and both have a sunset color palette.

For my first card, I took inspiration from the sunset sky from my road trip as we drove through the desert on our way to Arizona. i placed the sky scene stamp from the card kit on a stamp positioner, and using a finger dauber, I loaded it up with Lemon Ink and inked the stamp directly by tapping the dauber on top of the stamp, then stamping it on the cardstock panel. Next, I used Creamsicle reactive ink and repeated the process but this time slightly above the Lemon Drop. Then i did the same with Fruit Punch, then Purple Galaxy and finally Blue Hawaii Reactive Ink at the very top of the stamp. This technique creates a beautifully blended scene. If you would like to see it in action, I have a video showing the technique linked here.

After ink blending the sky, I applied embossing ink generously all over the stamp and stamped it and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. The clear embossing will lock in the color so I was able to ink blend more colors on top to create additional color to the clouds.

Next, I took another piece of white cardstock and then placed it on the stamp positioning tool. I took the scene stamp at the bottom of the stamp set and I masked the area below the mountain horizon and stamped it with Intens-ified black Ink but not before removing the mask first.

Then I applied the same technique I did with the sky scene, using the same colors. but this time in reverse, Lemon Drop at the top then Creamsicle, then Fruit Punch etc. After ink blending, I heat embossed it with clear embossing powder and then ink blended on top. Then I did the same technique for the road.

After all the ink blending, I die cut them out using the coordinating dies, then joined the mountain scene with the sky scene. I adhered it to a horizontal top folding card base, then added a window frame on top which i created by using the Rectangle infinity dies but not before stamping the words, I Miss You. That sentiment is from the Hero Studio Stamp & Cut set of the month.

For my second card, I used the Layering Stencil of the Month called “Just Keep Going” and applied the same embossed resist technique.

First, I placed the white cardstock panel on a stamp positioning tool and ink blended each stencil layer with the same color inks, starting with Lemon Drop at the bottom, then ending with a combination of Blue Hawaii and Purple at the top.

I removed the foam underneath the stamp positioning tool and used the Cling Stamp the Month, Cobblestone Courtyard, and heat embossed the whole panel using clear embossing powder.

Next, I placed each layer of stencil back in the same position and ink blended again over it. This time I skipped the Lemon Drop at the bottom and started with Creamsicle. This allowed the Lemon Drop color trapped underneath the embossing to show through.

After ink blending the second time, I gently wiped off the excess ink sitting on top of the embossed areas. Then I cut down the panel to 4″X5.25″. For the matting, I used one of the Sky Ombre Hero transfer sheets, applied on a 4.25″x5.5″ cardstock panel. Then I finished off the card by adding some clear dots that came from an old My Monthly Hero Kit.

GIVEAWAY

Hero Arts will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Saturday, July 5th at 11:59pm PT, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week. Leave a comment on all stops for more chances to win!

Next on hop, is the lovely Channin!

Thank you so much for dropping by my blog.

Have a wonderful crafty day!

Til next time!

❤️

Anna