VIDEO: Dry Emboss Galaxy + Giveaway

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Happy Monday! I was back from vacation last week and I'm all caught up and ready for the New Year. I have some fun things planned, and can't wait to share them with you. Since you saw my sneaky peeky of this month's Hero Arts Kit, you know what today is. 

I'm MOST excited about just switching to the imagery of spring. For some reason, the fall and winter stamping season - even though that old 2021 FLEW by - felt long to me! Despite running out of Christmas cards to send, it felt like I was making them all year. Pandemic time warp I guess. 

I'm ready for flowers, bunnies, chicks and all the stuff that comes with spring stamping, and NOTHING makes me happier than nature imagery this time of year. After our horrifying experience in Texas last February, things blooming and coming to life mean more to me and my garden loving heart! So while a lot of the images this month CAN be used for valentine themed projects, they are really just beautiful spring things you can do anything with. The main kit has this stunning layering tree - and you will see so many different color schemes with it on the hop today - but it's so detailed and beautiful - I wanted to do a grey version to go with my colorful galaxy circle you'll see me make in the video below. It's such an elegant botanical. I colored the galaxy with these dreamy pencils on this hot press paper after dry embossing the stars, and I used white embossing powder for the sentiment from the kit - I think this would make a great sympathy card. 

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Here's what the full kit looks like. Look at that beautiful branch! 

The red sparklies are stunning in real life. 

My absolute favorite card this month is with these GORGEOUS lock dies and the chain link die! I wanted it to look rusty and aged, so here's what I did.

• Die cut chain link background and locks from watercolor paper, cut locks to loop through chain link and glue all of it to watercolor card front.
• Spray entire piece with water and drop Dandelion, Cocoa and Coffee watercolor onto it and "pour" - tilt it around and add more water to move color until I liked it.
• Add metallic inks - gold and pewter over the top with my finger to add a metal look. 
• Stamp sentiment from the main kit. 

An add-on that is similar in terms of being love, but not necessarily Valentine themed is this one, with these little girls sprinkling hearts - so cute. I thought they'd be sweet and sort of old fashioned in no-line watercolor, so I busted out the Daniel Smiths after stamping them in Contour Ink. How cute would these be for a wedding card - little flower girls dropping hearts?

I typically use a #2 Versatil brush when doing this - even for those tiny hearts, that's the perfect size. 

NOW I'm calling all Harry Potter fans with my sneak peek from Friday! I LOVE THIS CARD! I took the wings from this adorable cherub lifestyle die set and made a little Harry Potter key with the key die from the kit! I was squealing! 

And I don't know why I've never done this before, but simple ink blending over fancy die cuts like the one in the kit really makes them POP! I love all the details on these dies. So I used Pool Party ink on white cardstock and just blended evenly. I took this little banner die from the cherub die set and the xoxo stamp from the kit and then made the key opening a shaker. Such a serene and non-traditional valentine.

I used the new coloring stencil that matches this stamp set for the next card - but I flipped it over, just to show you you can make it go the opposite direction from the stamp too, if you're using it alone. That's one of the many reasons coloring stencils are fun! I stamped lightly all over the whole thing with my favorite script stamp.

Here's what all the add-ons look like

Here's the video, and come back for the giveaway!

Here are all the supplies I used today!

MMH January [ HA ] Derwent colored pencils [ BLIC ] Hot Press - Pencil Paper [ BLIC ] All January Add-ons [ HA ] Skin Tone Watercolors - Cocoa and Coffee [ HA ] Dandelion [ HA ] Locks Dies [ HA ] Chain Link Die [ HA ] Fabriano Artistico Extra White... [ BLIC ] GM100 Gold & Pewter Glimmer Metallic... [ HA ] AF469 Contour Ink + Reinker Bundle -... [ HA ] Flower Girls [ HA ] Escoda Versatil Brush - Pointed... [ BLIC ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolor -... [ BLIC ] Lifestyle Cherub [ HA ] CG830 Script Bold Prints | Hero Arts [ HA ] Color Layering Peonies Bundle [ HA ] Color Layering Peonies Stencil [ HA ] MMH Kit Subscription [ HA ] Hero Arts Blog [ HA ]

As usual, Hero will give away a $50 gift card to one lucky commenter, so leave me a comment about which of these is your favorite card by Sunday and the winner will be announced on the Hero blog the following week!

Want more inspiration? Head over to the Hero Blog for the full hop with lots more beautiful cards with this month's kit. Here are the basic supplies I use every time I craft.

MIS-T Rulers [ MSP ] Understand Blue MINI Slimline Folded... [ CTC ] Understand Blue Slimline Folded... [ CTC ] Understand Blue Card Making Bundle #3... [ CTC ] Understand Blue Card Making Bundle #1... [ CTC ] Understand Blue Card Making Bundle #2... [ CTC ] Sakura CLASSIC WHITE Fine Line 05... [ SSS ] Art Anthology BIG CRAFT MAT 24x36 311473 [ SSS ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | SSS | ELH ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Crafter's Companion GEMINI... [ SSS ] Scor-Pal MINI SCOR-BUDDY Scoring... [ SSS ] Storage Envelopes, Medium 25pk,... [ ELH ] CheckOutStore Stamp & Die Clear... [ CHC ] Extra Large -50 pk, Avery Elle Stamp... [ ELH ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | CST ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ] The Ink Stand White MINI is354 at... [ SSS ] The Ink Stand White RECTANGLE... [ SSS ]

Have a great week!

Loveyameanitbye.