hero arts blog hop and giveaway

Hello Friends, Welcome to the Hero Arts "Hostess Summer Picnic"blog hop. I am so delighted to be included in this hop with so many wonderful, kind & talented ladies. You may be arriving sweet & talented Linda at "Scrappin, Stampin' & Singin' "blog here. If you want to the full list of the hoppers today you will find them at the Hero Arts Blog here. If you want to go to the first hopper that will be Deborah Nolan's blog called S.O.S. not only is she talented but, so darn funny!!
Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day’s starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!  (If you find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Arts Club Blog. Also, please report broken links to: blog@heroarts.com.)

I fell in love with the stamp called, "Butterfly Flower" from Hero Arts so I decided to create three entirely different cards today for the hop and I have a mimi tutorial for the first card.
Card Number One was FUN to create using two layers of the same stamp. One of the layers is on vellum and really... that could be a CASE card all by itself. More details will be in the tutorial at the bottom of the post.

When I finished my card it needed a small touch but, not a sentiment. The butterfly called, "Chrissy Butterfly" was the perfect touch. I stamped on vellum with the Butterfly Flower using this die cut. Do you think the card is to busy? Sometimes I get carried away with the addition of my white dots. 

For Card Number Two the butterfly flowers were watercolored with Inktense Colored Pencils, cut out & separated. (A huge thanks to Jennifer McGuire for introducing me to these colored pencils) Love the vibrant colors or they can be soft like in the card above. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp called, "Card Exchanging Friends"and the rest of the sentiment is stamped inside the card. 

I just love the ring to this sentiment..... "I count myself lucky to know you" The background on this card was distressed, embossed w/ clear embossing powder & white pen action. A strip of this 40lb. vellum was a perfect way to soften the card with the sentiment stamped in this Hero Arts ink. 

For Card Number Three I did some fast coloring with NO SHADING...NOT ONE TINY BIT!! 

I used this Spellbinder die cut for the card base. I traced the outside of the die cut to get a small frame around the white card stock...trimmed it again and traced the die again for the yellow. Email me if you have questions. :)

Adding white dots with the gel pen and Enamel Accents made the flowers jump off the card. I also outlined the flowers with a fine tip Sharpie. 

READY FOR THE MINI TUTORIAL FOR CARD #1.? 

Stamp and emboss with white embossing powder on the Dessert Storm paper. Trim around the embossed image.

Color with the Inktense pencils and blend with a Dove Blender pen. Here is a post with a video and more details using the blender pen.

You can also take the tip of the pen and pick up color directly from tip of the colored pencil.

I combined orange and red for the big blossoms. Later I added a tad of color from some purples and blues into the flowers.

Add some white trim, white dots & white Enamel Accents. That will make me happy :)

Stamp the flowers on vellum with Unicorn Ink. Then.... you guessed it... add some white dots with the white gel pen. Pop the water colored part of the card onto the vellum. These are the perfect pop dots because they give some nice height to your card. Stamp the flower on some scrap vellum and die cut this & this butterfly for the card.

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY FROM ME :)
This Hero Arts ink and flower stamp, plus a  6x6 Basic Grey pad of paper.
All you need to do is leave a comment...maybe tell me your favorite card.If you don't already... I invite you to join my following or subscribe here.(Please leave your email so I can contact you if you don't have a blog.)

Everyday all week you will be inspired with more from the Hero Arts "Hostess Summer Picnic"blog hop cards. If you start at Hero Arts Blog they will send you to the first stop of the hop each day. Today I am the last stop in the hop. THANK YOU for your visit today it's so appreciated!!  Hugs, Kathy

P.S. The winners have been announced on the Simon Says Stamp Blog from the Card Kit blog hop last week. Congrats to Amber Milone that won from my blog! If you want to see the hop click here.

CARD SUPPLIES & LINKS: