The Monster Under the Bed + Giveaway

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I was a child who believed in monsters. 

It's so funny to see all the memes about Gen X kids and the coronavirus. All of us who spent 18 hours a  day outside, drinking hot hose water and exploring dangerous territories unsupervised are amused at the renewed attention to our childhoods. We lived on our imaginations - no TV at my house, and none of my friends, like me, were allowed inside the house during the day. We thrive on our own, and seem to be built for this crisis. We are never happier than when left to our own devices, and because we grew up media-free - we developed passions (aka hobbies and interests) that we just want to focus on to the exclusion of everything else. It was the "rub some dirt on it" generation, and that's what we find ourselves doing now - rubbing some dirt on it. 

My friend David and I had pretty vivid imaginations, and probably because of those generational quirks and the terrors of the time - nuclear war, etc. - many of our stories we concocted revolved around supernatural threats of some kind, fueled by the only movie that was ever on TV - Jason and the Argonauts. 

There was a small patch of woods within walking distance with a pond. We spent a lot of time there, and I was 100% convinced a witch lived there. On our summer driving vacations, I would frequently scream out that there were bears all around us. We never saw a bear.

Our house was a two-story, and at the top of the stairs, there was a tiny, very hot linen closet with a stack of blankets in it that went nearly to the sloped ceiling. If it was raining, I would climb up to the top of the stack, close the door and read Nancy Drew books for hours, and hear our creaky stairs creak, and wonder what was coming up to get me. If you haven't read THIS story, you need to see why it wasn't just my imagination that made me believe in monsters! They were REAL. (This tiny closet by the way, is probably part of the reason I fall asleep in MRI tubes - they don't bother me at all.)

This all informs my love of all things monster. Some of my earliest blog posts were monster stamps - and I still own every monster stamp I've ever bought. I just love them.

So what an exciting day for kids and those of us who are still kids at heart - Hero Arts is launching a kit for kids today - and it's FULL of monsters!

Has there ever been a better time for an activity like this, I ask all you parents turned teachers? I think not! 

As a former teacher, what I love about this kit is it's an imagination exercise - not just something to do, like coloring. There are a big stack of coloring sheets in the kit, but the kiddies can then customize those sheet with the coordinating tub of stamps - this month - MONSTERS! So every child will have a completely difference scene for each sheet that they create. That is absolutely the best!

I had SO much fun creating my spooky bedroom scene, which you will see in my video below! I love these little creatures so, so much.

Here is the video, (click here to watch in HD on YouTube) and come back below for the full kit and a giveaway! 

HK100 Hero Kids Monster Kit [ HA ] LP438 Monster Ink 'n' Stamp - Hero Arts [ HA ] Monster Bedroom Bold Prints [ HA ] Bedroom Monsters Stamp Set [ HA ] LP438 Monster Ink 'n' Stamp - Hero Arts [ HA ] Party Monsters Stamp Set [ HA ] AF334 Strawberry Bold Ink - Hero Arts [ HA ] AF219 Orange Neon Ink Pad [ HA ] AF344 Green Apple Bold Ink [ HA ] AF341 Indigo Bold Ink - Hero Arts [ HA ] AF337 Orchid Bold Ink - Hero Arts [ HA ] Pre-Cut & Scored Cardstock [ CTC ] Sakura CLASSIC WHITE Fine Line 05... [ SSS ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Crafter's Companion GEMINI... [ SSS ] Scor-Pal MINI SCOR-BUDDY Scoring... [ SSS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Die Storage - Clear Storage Pockets... [ CHC ] XL Stamp Storage Pockets [ ELH ] Mermaid tidy towel case and glue... [ ETS ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | CST ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ] Hero Arts Blog [ HA ]

Here's what comes in the full kit - the ink & stamp tub of monsters (this can also be purchased separately here), the 12 coloring pages, googly eyes, super washable markers and ink cubes and ten of these sweet die cut monsters with the little eyes stamp! Like the adult kits, these are while supplies last and will sell out, so pre-order yours! 

There are three add-ons this month (add-ons will stay in the store) - the coordinating cling background that I show in my video:

Then these two clear sets - I LOVE THE WILD RUMPUS SENTIMENT in this one.

And then this little bedroom monster set.

What a sweet little style these have. 

Giveaway: We will give away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, September 27th at 11:59pm pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Hero Arts & team:

Hero Arts
Maria Willis
Daniel West
Dana Joy
Ilina Crouse
Pocono Pam
Mindy Eggen
Lydia Fiedler
Libby Hickson

With special guests:

Heather Ruwe

Tenia Nelson

And extremely special guest:

Theo!!

Loveyameanitdontforgettocheckunderthebedbye.

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