Crafty Comeback Party - Day 10 - Hero Arts + Blog Hop Giveaway

Good morning, and Happy Friday!!  I hope that you have had an amazing week so far, and are gearing up for a great weekend!

Today I am joining in with Hero Arts & their creative team for a "Jump into the Holidays" blog hop!!  We are hopping to celebrate all things fall and winter - and to rev up your holiday cardmaking motors!  The blog hop lineup is full of amazing designers, and you are sure to be inspired along the way.  I know that I can't wait to grab a cup of coffee and check it all out!

I am the second stop on the hop, so you should have come from the Hero Arts blog.  If you've happened upon my blog and want to take part in the hop, no worries!  I am at almost the beginning, so you can head over to the Hero Arts blog and start.  I will also include the full blog hop list at the end of my post.

I decided to create with Christmas in mind!  I've created 3 cards, showing 3 different ways to use the Star Confetti Fancy die.  Here is a peek at all three of them!

For my first card, I blended a block of white Strathmore Bristol art paper with Distress Oxide inks (all colors linked below) until it looked how I wanted it.  I then layered the Star Confetti cutting plate directly to the top of it.  I spritzed it with water so each star filled up with water, then soaked it up with a paper towel.  Because this ink is reactive to water, all of the beautiful stars reveal themselves in the blended ink!  After that I misted it with white Heidi Swapp color shine to give it a shimmer, and flicked white watercolor droplets to the front.  The finished result looks like this!

I used the same design for all three cards so that I could focus on creating three distinctly different backgrounds.  The rest of the card design is fairly simple.  I cut the snowy scene from different glitter papers using the Hero Arts Snowy Drifts die, and layered them together with dimensional adhesive.  I cut circles using the Hero Arts Infinity Circle dies from blocks of Neenah solar white cardstock, then stamped the sentiments in the white space.  All of the sentiments come from the Poster Christmas Carol stamp set....which is amazing!  I adore Christmas music, so this stamp set was a must have for me! I know it is going to get a lot of great use this holiday season!

Once everything was diecut, stamped & dry...I just layered them together with my trusty 3M foam tape to create three beautiful cards!!



For my next card I created a watercolor galaxy background using a standard watercolor cake palette, then misted it with white Color Shine & flicked white droplets to the front.  Then I diecut some of the Star Confetti from white glitter cardstock, and scattered them to the top of the watercolor panel.  I adhered them down with a glue pen after, but scattering them first gave the star placement a more random feel!

For my final card, I created an ombre sky by brushing the top half of the background with a Zig Clean Brush marker in turquoise.  I then used a large watercolor brush to fade it to the bottom of the base in an ombre fashion.  Then I cut the Star Confetti from this background, and mounted it to light yellow cardstock so it peek through the cutout stars!

There you have it!  Three really fun ways use the Star Confetti fancy die!  There are so many other ways to use this die that I can't wait to try in the very near future - like using it as a stencil, or with embossing paste....the possibilities are endless!  This is definitely a must-have when it comes to cover plate types of dies!!

GIVEAWAY

Hero Arts is graciously giving away a $25 gift certificate, randomly chosen from all of the comments left at every stop along the blog hop. To enter, leave a comment on any of the blogs by Friday, November 10 at 11:59pst, and the winner will be announced here on my blog the on Sunday, November 12.

BLOG HOP LINK LIST

The Hero Arts Blog
Lea Lawson {----- you are here
Ilina Crouse
Jana Millen
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Lisa Stein
Coralynn Murray
Donna Idlet
Emily Midgett
Kelly Szafron
Kimberly Rendino
Melissa Chipperfield
Michelle Lupton
Swapna Patil
Tracy Freeman
Libby Hickson

Have an awesome time hopping along, and be sure to leave everyone some love!!  They all worked so hard to help make day 10 of my Crafty Comeback Party a success, and I know that you are going to be so inspired!

Facebook will be a great way to stay tuned in to this month long party & all the giveaways, so be sure to LIKE my page and then hit the FOLLOW button right next to it! :)

For your shopping convenience, all products are linked below. {Includes affiliate linking where possible - this allows small compensation for me at no cost to you.  Never fear - I will only ever link to products that I truly love & use!}