July My Monthly Hero Countdown: Idea #5 + Giveaway!

Today Yana kicks off another day of July My Monthly Hero countdown posts, leading up to our release on Tuesday, July 5th at 1pm eastern/10am pacific. She's introducing you to another fun add-on to this month's kit!

Who would have thought there would be a color layering octopus for us to stamp and use on cards? You can find this super fun deep sea image as an add-on to the July My Monthly Hero kit. Put this big guy in a shaker, add a fun sentiment and you have an awesome card to give to somebody with a great sense of humor.

To create this card I started by stamping the octopus from the Octopus Color Layering add-on stamp set in [hero_product_link sku="AF339" text="Aquatic"] and [hero_product_link sku="AF340" text="Deep Ocean"] Hybrid inks. It's easier to align the image by first stamping the detail layer in darker color and than adding the base solid layer in a lighter color. I wanted to add some sparkle to this card to make it a little more magical, so I stamped the base solid octopus layer one more time in [hero_product_link sku="VC250" text="Versamark ink"] and covered with [hero_product_link sku="PW105" text="Sparkle embossing powder"] and heat set it. This gave a nice glossy and glittery finish.

I also stamped and heat embossed a coral image in [hero_product_link sku="AF234" text="Navy"] behind the octopus and blended some Peacock Feathers Distress ink around the images to add some color to the background. Because I had a layer of embossing powder over the images I did not contaminate the colors as the embossing resisted any new ink.

I wanted to turn this into a shaker, so I created a panel with a circle opening in the center, added a layer of acetate (I love using acetate from the Hero Arts [hero_product_link sku="PS454" text="Clear Cards"] for my shakers) and filled the space with the sequin mix from the kit.

I also heat embossed a fun sentiment "Need a Hand" in [hero_product_link sku="PW110" text=white embossing powder"] onto a strip of black cardstock and embellished this card with a few stamped and fussy cut starfish images. I used new [hero_product_link sku="AF365" text="Mermaid Ombre ink"] that is available as another add-on.

I couldn't resist adding several sequins to the outside of the card next to the starfish images to complete my project.

Win a kit before you can buy it! Just leave a comment on this (and every) Countdown to Creativity post! We’ll randomly draw one lucky winner from all of the comments left across all countdown posts, and announce the winner first thing Tuesday morning, July 5, before the kit launches at 1pm eastern. The more you comment, the more chances to win!