Today I had a bit of time to make some cards. That felt good.

I was so happy to use a new set I am crazy about – Cheerful Blessings from My Favorite Things. Lots of greetings that I love so much. Oh, and sorry I didn’t warn you to wear sunglasses…

This card was quick to do. I stamped the background with the Hero Arts Radiant Banner stamp and Butter Bar Ink. I then painted over the rays with orange and yellow Wink of Stella glitter brushtip markers. (This gives subtle, delicate shine that rocks. It is excellent to use on simple cards.) I then die cut an orange circle and embossed the new My Favorite Things Cheerful Blessing image in white. (LOVE THIS GREETING. Sorry. That deserves capital – lol.) And finally I put a light coating of clear Wink of Stella glitter brushtip marker over the orange piece and rubbed it away quickly for just a bit of shine…

Bright colors. A bit of shine. The perfect message. I am hoping this card has everything it needs to make a friend smile.

Here is a look at that must-have stamp set from MFT…

This stamp set is a new one and you can get it HERE. (By the way, I would recommend buying a few other goodies while there so you can get THIS amazing set for free.) Or you can get it at Simon Says Stamp HERE.

Have a happy day.

Below are the supplies used for this card. To find them at Simon Says Stamp, click on the SSS below the thumbnails. For My Favorite Things (where you can use the discount code above), click on MFT…

MFT Cheerful Blessings Stamp Set (MFT|SSS)	Hero Arts Radiant Banner	MFT Circle 1 Stax Dies	Zig Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Marker	Zig Wink of Stella Orange Glitter Brush Marker
Zig Wink of Stella Yellow Glitter Brush Marker	FAVORITE THING: Sizzix Vagabond Wafer Thing Die Adapter Plate	FAVORITE THING: Sizzix Vagabond Die Cut Machine	FAVORITE THING: Hero Arts Milwaukee Heat Gun	FAVORITE THING: Hero Arts White Embossing Powder
FAVORITE THING: VersaMark Ink	Hero Arts Butter Bar Mid Tone Shadow Ink	Neenah White Cardstock 250 Sheets	Neenah White Cardstock 25 Sheets	Hero Arts Snow Notecards
Best Creation 3-D Foam Adhesive

So these new Hero Arts stamps have me feeling better…

Nothing fancy here. Just good ol’ stamping with new Hero Arts stamps and Shadow Inks. (Supplies are below.)

Have you ordered any new Hero or have any one your wish list? Would love to hear what caught your eye. See you soon…

Hero Arts Time Stamp Set	Hero Arts Not Perfect Stamp Set	Hero Arts Notebook Essentials Stamp Set	Hero Arts Milwaukee Heat Gun	White Embossing Powder
Versamark	Hero Arts Tide Pool Mid Tone Shadow Ink	Hero Arts Soft Pool Shadow Ink	Hero Arts Green Hills Mid Tone Shadow Ink	Hero Arts Butter Bar Mid Tone Shadow Ink
Hero Arts Pool Notecards	Neenah White Cardstock 250 Sheets	Neenah White Cardstock 25 Sheets	Hero Arts Pool Mixed Accents	Hero Arts Foliage Mixed Accents

I am *so* very excited to be a part of the Hero Arts Stamp Your Story Blog Hop! I just love new stamps.

This new collection is very on trend and is perfect for stamping, cardmaking, and journaling. Faux painting… maps… geometric shapes… lots of good stuff. There are 43 new stamps and 27 new tools and accessories, such as stencils, dies, mint and peach ink colors, a notecard pad, and ink in a NEW Dauber format. Lots of good stuff! (Products are currently being shipped to stores around the world and will be in the Hero Arts Online Store on 5/15. Simon Says Stamps has many of the products already in HERE.)

I picked a few of the new clear sets to play with…

I am giddy about the many faux-painting stamps. It gives you the look of hand painting without the effort. Just stamp!

It is fun to be able to piece together your own greeting. Works great for many projects.

And a bit of shine is always nice, right? Really loving my the Wink of Stella brush/markers. It goes one smoothly and easily and you can get detailed areas or bigger ones. A great must-have! (I used clear but it comes in silver, gold, black and colors.)

I already shot a few more videos with other new stamps. Stay tuned!

By the way, there is a Stamp Your Story contest going on over on the Hero Arts Blog. For more information, head HERE.

I am the last stop on the blog hop! To start over, head to the Hero Arts Blog HERE. And there are giveaways! Just leave a comment here and at all the other blog hop stops for your chance to win some new goodies!

Hero Arts Notebook Essentials Stamp Set	Hero Arts My Words Stamp Set	Hero Arts Not Perfect Stamp Set	Hero Arts Painted Circle Stamp	Zig Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Marker
Hero Arts Tide Pool Mid Tone Shadow Ink	Hero Arts Pool Shadow Ink	Hero Arts Green Hills Mid Tone Shadow Ink	Hero Arts Soft Green Shadow Ink	Hero Arts Black Dye Ink
Lawn Fawn Hearts Dies	Hero Arts Pool Notecards	Bazzill Heavy Weight Black Cardstock	Neenah White Cardstock 250 Sheets	Neenah White Cardstock 25 Sheets
Copic Markers	FAVORITE THING: White Uniball Signo Pen

Hero Arts has a ton of new stamps as part of their “Stamp Your Story“ release. These stamps are very unique and so very on trend…

To see all the new stamps, head HERE. I’d love to hear what your favorites are! Mine? I LOVE the painted stamps. That way I can stamp brush strokes, paint splatter, “painted” circles, etc… and make it look like I painted them by hand. Sweet! (Remember: cheating is acceptable in crafting.) And so many of these stamps are perfect for techniques.

I will be sharing a lot with these over the next few weeks. And Friday? We have a blog hop celebrating them!

Again, I would love to hear what your favorites are. Share below!

See you soon.

Like when I got this month’s Studio Calico kit with an exclusive stamp set from Lawn Fawn. It has the cutest heart and rays… making me want to play right away…

And that “hello sunshine” piece? It is wood veneer from the kit, just colored black. All the papers are from the kit, too…

Quick and easy to put together. That is the joy of kits! (For more information on SC kits, go HERE.)

Is it sunny where you are? Hope so…

Studio Calico Card Kit	Sizzix Circle Framelits Dies	FAVORITE THING: My Favorite Things Jumbo Cloud Dies	FAVORITE THING: Sizzix Vagabond Die Cut Machine	FAVORITE THING: Sizzix Vagabond Wafer Thing Die Adapter Plate
Hero Arts Orange Soda Mid-Tone Shadow Ink	Hero Arts Butter Bar Mid Tone Shadow Ink	FAVORITE THING: Neenah Classic White Cardstock 250 Sheets	FAVORITE THING: Neenah Classic White Cardstock 25 Sheets	Hero Arts Snow Notecards
Hero Arts Smooth Gemstones	Best Creation 3-D Foam Adhesive

You have heard me say many times that I think Distress Inks are amazing. Well, here is just one more bit of proof.

Creating this flower? Easy with Distress Inks…

I simply inked the awesome Hero Arts flower stamp with my favorite Distress Ink colors (Peacock Feather and Mowed Lawn) and stamped it on watercolor paper. (I did not mist the stamp first.) The image isn’t the greatest at this point, but never fear! Just use water and a brush over it. The water reacts with the ink and it moves – instantly acting like a watercolor (but so much better). It blends so easily and perfectly. I then pressed some Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint Distress Inks onto my craft sheet and used a wet brush to pick up color and add a bit of depth to the image. After letting it dry, I used markers to add dots to the center of the flower…

It looks hand painted! But I couldn’t paint something that good to save my life. LOL. Thank goodness for Distress Inks and awesome stamps! (Maybe I should do a video showing this technique? Hmmm…)

For more info, head over to the Hero Arts Blog. Oh, and they are giving lots of peeks at the new stamps coming out soon. Be sure to check them out.

Hero Arts Painted Flower Stamp (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Tweed Background (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Celebrate Everyday Stamp Set	Peacock Feathers Distress Ink (SSS|EH)	Mowed Lawn Distress Ink (SSS|EH)
Peeled Paint Distress Ink (SSS|EH)	Faded Jeans Distress Ink (SSS|EH)	Versamark (SSS|EH)	Copic Markers (SSS|EH)	FAVORITE THING: Ranger Detailer Water Brush
FAVORITE THING: Ranger Craft Sheet	FAVORITE THING: Fiskars Microtip Scissors	FAVORITE THING: Hero Arts Milwaukee Heat Gun	FAVORITE THING: Hero Arts White Embossing Powder	FAVORITE THING: SSS Watercolor Paper
Hero Arts Pool Notecards (SSS|EH)	Tombow Stamp Runner Adhesive (SSS|EH)	Best Creation 3-D Foam Adhesive

I was inspired to die cut windows from some awesome wood paper after seeing a card my fab friend Kathy Racoosin did at a retreat a couple weeks ago. (Be sure to go see her card HERE – it is very clever! She is the master of looking at products differently and creatively. She turned this die and wood paper combo into a cruise ship!) These windows are quick to do with the three-square die from Simon Says Stamp. (This is so much faster than trying to line up individual dies or punching them!) That wood paper is awesome…

I then added some wood embellishments that I colored with markers. Theses wood icons are from Prima and the sets are incredible – lots of variety for a good price. Must haves.

The greeting is from one of my favorite Hero Arts sets. Love the look of white on that wood paper.

Again, be sure to head over to Kathy’s blog to see what she created. It is fabulous, just like her!

Simon Says Stamp Tri Square Die	Hero Arts Thanks a Bunch Clear Set	Prima Leaves & Flowers Wood Icons	Prima Birds & Owls Wood Icons	SSS Cherry Wood Paper 12 Pack
SSS Cherry Wood Paper 6 Pack	SSS Birch Wood Paper 12 Pack	SSS Birch Wood Paper 6 Pack	FAVORITE THING: Sizzix Vagabond Die Cut Machine	FAVORITE THING: Sizzix Vagabond Wafer Thing Die Adapter Plate
FAVORITE THING: Hero Arts Milwaukee Heat Gun	Versamark	FAVORITE THING: Hero Arts White Embossing Powder	Scotch Post It White Tape	Copic Markers
BasicGrey Camdy Buttons	Hero Arts Snow Notecards	Best Creation 3-D Foam Adhesive	Glossy Accents

For the card, I used the Hero Arts diamond stamps to form a fun border with Shadow Inks…

And when I created this card, I challenged myself to step away from the color pool. I have been using pool on every card lately – it was hard to leave it out!

Some of the diamonds are popped up for dimension…

Oh, and you see the chevron diamonds? I made that pattern myself. I used an outline diamond and stamped it repeatedly offset, then cut out the original diamond. A whole new look…

Here is the diamond stamp set I used. So many things you can do with it! I want to form a star with the diamonds next…

Be sure to go over and check out A Blog Named Hero. Lots of good stuff! And giveaways………

Below are the supplies used for this card. To find them at Simon Says Stamp, click on the SSS below the thumbnails. For Ellen Hutson, click on EH…

Hero ARts So Kind Stamp Set (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts It’s Your Day Stamp Set (SSS|EH)	FAVORITE THING: Fiskars Microtip Scissors	Hero Arts Soft Granite Shadow Ink (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Pale Tomato Mid Tone Shadow Ink (SSS|EH)
Hero Arts Soft Cantaloupe Shadow Ink (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Green Hills Mid Tone Shadow Ink (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Black Dye Ink	Neenah White Cardstock 250 Sheets (SSS|EH)	Neenah White Cardstock 25 Sheets (SSS|EH)

I seem to always use bright colors on my cards. Sunglass-worthy bright colors. So I thought I would give pastels a try…

I used a bunch of Hero Arts Soft Shadow Inks for these. These inks stamp beautifully. I adhered the flower directly to the card at the center but tucked small foam dots under the petals so they would stick up. I am really liking this flower since it is different from most you see…

I also created a card for the Hero Arts blog with the same look. (Head over there for more info.) This time I added stems, leaves and shading with markers. Quick and easy and one-layer…

Do you find yourself addicted to certain color palettes? I just can’t get away from the brights, so it was fun to do something a bit lighter.

Have a good week!

Below are the supplies used for this card. To find them at Simon Says Stamp, click on the SSS below the thumbnails. For Ellen Hutson, click on EH…

Hero Arts Night Flower Stamp (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Etched Daisy Stamp (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Celebrate Everyday	FAVORITE THING: Fiskars Microtip Scissors	Hero Arts Bubble Gum Mid Tone Shadow Ink (SSS|EH)
Hero Arts Soft Cantaloupe Shadow Ink (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Soft Apricot Shadow Ink (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Green Hills Mid Tone Shadow Ink (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Tide Pool Mid Tone Shadow Ink (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Black Dye Ink
Hero Arts Foliage Memento Markers (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Earth Memento Markers (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Blush Memento Markers (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Sunshine Memento Markers (SSS|EH)	Neenah White Cardstock 250 Sheets (SSS|EH)
Neenah White Cardstock 25 Sheets (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Foliage Mixed Accents (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Pool Mixed Accents (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Blush Mixed Accents (SSS|EH)	Hero Arts Sunshine Mixed Accents (SSS|EH)
Tombow Stamp Runner Adhesive (SSS|EH)	Best Creation 3-D Foam Adhesive

This one is a bit bold and crazy…

I love how you can get vivid, crisp, mutli-colored images with DIY ink pads. You can get multi-colored images with markers, but not this crisp…

This one isn’t as crazy. You really can use any colors together…

Love doing small black DIY embellishments when I use bold colors…

Simple, eh? In the video I show how to create your own ink pads with baby wipes. However, I normally like to create my own with a product from Ranger called Felt Cut n Dry. This allows you to create a more “real” ink pad that you can leave stored in a ziploc bag and use again and again. It really is a great product. (I show how to use this product in Stretch Your Stamps and Clean and Simple 2.)

For DIY ink pads, I like to use Distress Ink Reinkers or Hero Arts Reinkers. But you can use many other types too. Just give it a try!

See you soon.

Hero Arts Studio Calico Frame and Feathers Stamp Set	Hero Arts XO Stamp Set	Hero Arts It’s Your Day Stamp Set	Ranger Cut N Dry Felt Stamp Pad	Hero Arts Neon Pink Reinker
Hero Arts Raspberry Jam Reinker	Hero Arts Orange Soda Reinker	Hero Arts Neon Green Reinker	Hero Arts Neon Blue Reinker	Hero Arts Tide Pool Reinker
Hero Arts Soft Granite Reinker	FAVORITE THING: Hero Arts Black Dye Ink	FAVORITE THING: Large Ranger Glossy Accents