Hero Arts March 2020 | 5 Cards 1 Kit

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Hero Arts March 2020 | 5 Cards 1 Kit

I'm sending virtual hugs to everyone who needs it during these tough times! I'm hoping my blog post and video tutorial using the Hero Arts March 2020 card kit can lift your spirits! This month's kit is absolutely stunning. Of course, you can create beautiful cherry blossom trees and Spring scenes with the layering stamp set from the kit, but I tried to show the versatility of it by showing how it can work for any season in the year. I really liked the size of the tree in the stamp set. I felt that they worked nicely on a larger card base, so I created two 5.25 in. square cards and 3 A2 sized cards. I managed to use everything that came in the kit apart from the green card-stock. I really enjoyed working with the pink puff embossing powder, it creates a very subtle puffy dimension. I recommend adding the pink puff after you've die cut your tree as it will flatten in your die cut machine.

It's important to note that across all cards, I stamped all of the tree trunks with Hero Arts cocoa ink. For the ponds, I used the blue ink that came in the kit as the base layer. For the ripples in the pond, I used Hero arts Unicorn white ink. As for the Japanese lanterns and rocks, I used gray flanel Memento ink and Espresso Memento ink. The grasses and trees I stamped in different colored inks. That way, my cards didn't appear to look to similar.

Unfortunately, this card kit is sold out. I hope I was able to inspire those of you who were able to snag one. I'm hoping in the future, Hero Arts will restock the Cherry Blossom stamp set. If they do, I'll be sure to update this blog and link it in the supply section. Thanks for stopping by crafty friends and stay safe!

Card One

Bring on the pink! Card one showcases three beautiful cherry blossom trees that are set in a Japanese garden. I used all five inks that came in the kit to create this scene. For the grass in the background, I incorporated a lighter Memento ink to add another shade of green to the card. After some research before starting my cards, I learned that white cherry blossom trees exist. To break up all the pink and add variation, I decided to incorporate a white cherry blossom to my scene. To create the white tree, I stamped the first layer of the tree with a light grey ink. (The second generation of Memento grey flanel). I white heat embossed the top detail layer. I used the blue card-stock that came in the kit to create the sky. The card is embellished with a few iridescent gems. The card base is 5.25 x 5.25 in. and the blue panel was cut to 4.5 x 4.5 in.

Card Two

In order to diversify my cards, I preplanned all of them. That way, my cards wouldn't look to similar in color. There's only so much you can do with 5 colored ink cubes, so I knew before I started making my cards that I wanted to incorporate some more Fall colors. My fall card showcases the "grass" stamp which I converted to a field of leaves, and a brown mountain scape in the background. I'm happy with how the autumn landscape turned out. It's just another way to use that grass stamp! To ink up the "leaves" I used several Fall colored inks including red, orange, yellow and brown (color names listed in supplies). The mountains were created with brown ink and the darkest green ink from the kit. Oddly enough the green grass showed through that dark brown base stamp! The sky was created with that same dark green ink, as well as some orange and brown ink. I decided to add two Fall trees to this card, one orange that matches the ground and one green that kinda matches the sky. Overall, I love the colors and the composition of this card. I think it makes a great masculine card!

Card Three

It looks like card three is the fan favorite, with good reason. The colors are very eye catching and it's interesting because it showcases the four phases of a tree, from Summer to Fall to Winter to Spring. I felt compositionally, this design would work perfectly on a square card. That way, I can create four reasonably sized white square panels, which I cut to 2.25 x 2.25 in. The black mattes behind them are 1/8 of an inch larger. For my Summer square, I ink blended the light green ink from the kit and glued a green Summer tree to the right. I also glued a pond beside the tree. For the Fall panel, I ink blended "tangelo" memento ink and adhered a Fall tree with a Japanese statue. Now, winter was a little tricky because trees don't typically bloom in extremely cold climates. To fill the space on the square, I decided to adhere three tree trunks which I created using the first and second generation of "grey flanel" memento ink. I added another Japanese statue beside my bare trees. The background was created by ink blending the blue ink from the kit. Lastly, my Spring panel features a Cherry Blossom tree and a pink sky, which I created with the light pink ink that came in the kit. Under the tree, I added two pebbles. You can see on the backgrounds of each square I added some flying leaves using the same colored ink I used to create the skies. The Winter panel, however, was changed so the leaves look more like snow. I achieved that by inking the stamp up with white pigment ink. I popped up each square with double mounted foam tape onto their black mattes and adhered them onto my 5.25 in card base. The sentiment I attached to the center of the card using some more foam tape and glue.

Card Four

Personally, this card is my favorite out of the bunch. I love the contrast between grey scale background and the bright pink and green circle. This is a technique known as "spotlight stamping" meaning you're highlighting a specific area of the card with color. You can see, across the card everything aligns perfectly, the grass landscape and the pond. The grey scale background was created with memento grey flanel, versafine and white embossing powder. The sky has a hint of grey flanel around the edges. I really like the addition of the grey and white tree as well as a third Japanese lantern. The circle panel was cut from the pink card-stock in the kit. I added a hint of the light pink ink to the top of the circle to add interest. I added my green grass, Japanese statues, blue pond, and Cherry Blossom tree to the circle and popped it up over the black and white landscape. I added my white heat embossed sentiment to the top left of the card. To embellish the card, I just added a few clear gems to the circle piece. Overall, I think I like this card the most, because of how I was able to create a coherent continuing scene from two completely different colored landscapes. It just looks super cool!

Card Five

Alright, so if you saw my video tutorial on how I made this card, you'd know that I definitely struggled with this one. However, I persevered and I'm pretty happy with how this card turned out! I created the sky and water using three shades of blue distress ink (colors listed below). I stamped the tree in the water upside down to create the tree's reflection. I did the same with the mountains, but in the end you can't really see the mountain scape in the water, since I was a little to heavy handed with my ink blending. To give the water some reflections, I used a white gel pen and versamark ink to draw in some lines. I poured white embossing powder over the lines and heat set them to create those pretty water ripples. On the "land" portion, I stamped my mountains with a navy blue and black ink. These "mountains" were created with the grass stamp! I added my tree above the tree reflecting in the water. I fussy cut the tree because I wanted it to pop. I also did not want the tree to have a white border. To finish my sky, I splattered some "stars" with some silver watercolor paint and a paint brush. I create the splatters by wacking my watercolor brush on another one from a distance. Be sure to mask your mountains before adding the stars! Trust me, I know, because I messed up my first attempt by forgetting to mask! I added my white embossed sentiment to the bottom of the card, and just finished it off with a sprinkling of clear gems.

Video

Supplies

Unfortunately, the March 2020 Hero Arts card kit has sold out. The only way to guarantee receiving a card kit each month is by subscribing to one of the monthly subscription plans, (3 month, 6 month and annual) Lately, every kit Hero has come out with has sold out, so I highly recommend that you consider becoming a My Monthly Hero subscription member. Additionally, the 5 colored inks and the pink puff embossing powder that came in the kit are exclusive, so I cannot link to those products separately. I’m hoping Hero will restock the Cherry Blossom stamp set in the future. If it is, I’ll be sure to update this supply list.

NOTE: I am using affiliate links for the products listed below. If you decide to use these links, know that I will receive a small commission off of your purchase. This is no added cost to you as the consumer, it's just a way for us crafty friends to support one another!

Japanese lanterns and rocks

Second Layer on the ponds