Awesome Add-ons: May 2021 Edition

It's time for our Awesome Add-ons feature for the month of May! Have you had a chance to check out the new add-ons introduced on Monday along with this month's kit? There's an ocean of creative possibilities with all of these stamps, dies and stencils. We're also excited to introduce a brand NEW product collection -- Looking Glass Dies and coordinating alignment tools that double as stencils! The Underwater Reef and Lighthouse are the debut members of the Looking Glass collection.

Shop for the May MMH add-ons here

Today we're delighted to have Debi Adams here to share some fabulous “beyond the kit” ideas for a few of the add-ons.

Hello friends! I’m Debi Adams and I’m thrilled to be bringing you two cards from the latest My Monthly Hero add-on collection for May. What an awesome variety of designs with so many different ways to approach them! Today I want to focus on creating backgrounds and so I’m working with the Inverse Bubbles Bold Prints, Happiness Waves Bold Prints and Water Flow Slimline Stencil in particular. Two very different cards but both give an underwater feel.

Let’s look at the slimline card first. I created the stencil background by simply laying the stencil over the card base and applying Blue Raspberry, Key Lime Fizz and Green Apple Reactive inks. I really like the variation in colors because the ocean is not just one color, right? And this one is a breeze to create.

For the smaller rectangular-piece, I stamped the Inverse Bubbles Bold Prints using Key Lime and Blue Raspberry Reactive inks onto a piece of watercolor paper. When it was stamped well, I lightly misted it with water so the the ink filled in the area around the bubbles. I also went back and lightly stamped it again. Tip: This is really a fun process and makes for some cool exploration especially if you mist your stamp and then press it back onto the watercolor paper. I encourage you to play around with this one for a bit.

Once I got the desired effect and the cardstock was dry, I applied the Happiness Waves Bold Prints stamp using Blue Raspberry Reactive ink towards the bottom of the stamp and Green Apple Reactive ink towards the top and gave it a good impression. Sometimes it takes a few inkings to set the ink well because of the irregularities in watercolor paper.

I mounted the piece onto Dove White cardstock so that it separated itself from the stencil background, attached it to the slimline card base, then stamped, cut, colored and assembled the other pieces to create the card.

For the second card, I simply made the same watercolor Inverse Bubbles Bold Print onto watercolor paper and when dry, cut out the Swirling Tide Border Fancy Die with Frame. I stamped the fish and seaweed/coral from the Sea You set onto a piece of 4 1/4” x 5 1/2” cardstock, making sure it fit inside the Bold Print window area, and watercolored the images using Lemon Drop, Creamsicle & Blue Raspberry Reactive inks. To add a bit of definition, I used just a few Copic markers in certain places. The frame was attached to the watercolor base using foam dots.

Well there you have it. Two unique cards ready to put in the mail to someone special.

Have you ordered any of the new sets yet? Do you have a favorite? Can’t wait to see what you have made.

Thanks for stopping in!

A reminder for all My Monthly Hero subscribers: You have the opportunity to add extra items, including but not limited to add-ons, to your kit shipments with no additional shipping charges. Simply log in to your Hero Arts store account and place your order by 11:59am PT on Thursday, May 6 to take advantage of this offer.

Happy stamping!

Click on products to shop:

SA167 Water Flow Slimline Stencil -... HA ] CG849 Happiness Waves Bold Prints -... HA ] CG848 Inverse Bubbles Bold Prints -... HA ] DI900 Swirling Tide Border Fancy Die... HA ] DI897 Hero Lifestyle Mermaid (D) -... HA ] CM545 Sea You - Hero Arts HA ] AF424 Key Lime Fizz Reactive Ink -... HA ] AF425 Green Apple Reactive Ink - Hero... HA ] AF427 Blue Raspberry Reactive Ink -... HA ] AF423 Lemon Drop Reactive Ink - Hero... HA ] AF422 Creamsicle Reactive Ink - Hero... HA ] PS325 Hero Hues Dove white - Hero Arts HA ] PS323 Hero Hues Premium Cardstock... HA ] AF419 Clear Embossing & Watermark Ink... HA ] PW110 White Embossing Powder - Hero Arts HA ] PD103 Water Flow Brush - Hero Arts HA ] WM101 Water Mist Bottle - Hero Arts HA ]