She Can't Be Beet!

Many of you probably know and love my friend Kathy Racoosin - the brainchild behind The Daily Marker and the 30 day coloring challenge.

She's beautiful, she's HILARIOUS and immensely talented.

She designed the stamp set I'm using today - it's part of the new My Monthly Hero Kit from Hero Arts - and it is GORGEOUS.

When I got mine (It's a HUGE stamp set with 30 images) I didn't know what to do first - I love all things botanical, and I knew a scene was in my future. But as my eye went wandering around, my twisted little brain saw something that I could do with the ornament/terrarium images and some of the plants.


And I did it. :)

I have the soul of a gardener, and if I can make a plant out of something I'm going to do it. And as you know - I think beets are not edible, but they are BEAUTIFUL just as plants. Their magenta and bluish tones just speak to me, so that's what I tried to capture. I stamped the images in Smoky Slate on Canson Mi Teintes Pastel Paper and just made up the rest with my Polychromos Pencils.

This is a pretty large image so I had a lot of room to add light and shadow in. It was really fun. I added a gold foil sentiment that I cut with the Greetings Thinlits. (PS - if you get those bumps from the release holes in the dies - just burnish the whole die cut with your bone folder.)

Then I moved on to a more traditional use of the set once I had that out of my system.

I LOVE masking and scene building and I loved the potential of this set for that - the rocks, the plants - I felt like I could build my own fairy tale. I really love the miniatures in the set - the tiny mushrooms, the gnome - it plays into all the children's books in my head - the Borrowers, the Silver Nutmeg...

First I masked numerous elements to build the scene, starting with the gnome, then the plants and then the rocks. I built the scene in Smoky Slate, and colored it with Derwent Inktense pencils. After it was colored, I put all my masks back into place, and sponged the water and the sky with Distress Inks. Seriously - how freaking cute is this?????

I deliberately didn't glue down the spiky parts of the plants and sort of curved them up off the card so that it has a 3D look. Squee!

My sister just added a little pond in her backyard. I might have to get her a tiny gnome. So fun. A very fun, zen day of painting and coloring with this one.

We have a little hop for you to show off the wonders of this kit too - be sure and visit all my friends - they are so talented and I'm excited to see their vision for these fun images - these are some of the most talented people I know. I saw a peek of Libby's and Sandy's - and wow.

Hero Arts
Kathy Racoosin
Sandy Allnock
Lydia Fiedler (you are here)
Libby Hickson
Amy Tsuruta
Jayne Nelson

PS - the kits are in limited supply - when they're gone, they're gone, so get in line early :).

And, speaking of Hero Arts, and one of my favorite people on the planet - Jennifer McGuire - today begins her Share Handmade Kindness challenges. Hero Arts designed stamp sets, and are donating the proceeds from sales of these sets to the Kind Campaign. Throughout this month, she challenges ALL of us to share an act of handmade kindness with someone - you can make a card, cookies, you can knit something - anything that just will make someone's day and was born out of your creativity.

I love her focus on the power of handmade gifts to uplift people, and I love this challenge idea with my whole face - what a great way to head into the holiday season. When you participate, just watch Jennifer's blog, and remember to use the hashtag #sharehandmadekindness.

She is truly one of the kindest people I've ever met, and this challenge pretty much tells you everything you need to know about her and the fine people at Hero Arts. Seriously good eggs.

Here are two cards I made with the kindness sets.

The first one was done with the Wrinkle Free Distress technique for Angie's Hope You Can Cling To Challenge. I used Twisted Citron, Chipped Sapphire and Peacock Feathers Distress ink.

 The next one - oh my goodness this one is a long story.

Someday, I will tell it - but please know - it started in failure. There's hope for us all.

I made the background by dropping Ranger alcohol inks on Duralar. The side the ink is on is actually the side that's adhered to the card base.

This card may remind you of biology class, in which case, you're welcome. I loved biology. Except for that time I got an F for refusing to do something.

Either way - I think it's pretty, and I love this sentiment.

Let's make the world a kinder place, shall we? :)

Loveyameanitbye.