Scrapbooking with Hero Arts: Get the Most out of your Stamps and Dies

Stampers, do we have a treat for you today! Please join us in welcoming guest artist Kathleen Graumüller to the blog. She'll be sharing some amazing scrapbooking inspiration, using new stamps and dies from our 2016 Catalog. Here's Kathleen now to tell you about her projects...

Hey there, I am absolutely excited to be here on the Hero Arts blog as a guest designer! I have been following the Hero Arts blog for quite a while now and I am always impressed by the beautiful projects (especially cards) the design team comes up with. When I thought about what I could create for my guest design gig, I was a bit intimidated by the quality of the cards shown here (I have only started making cards a few months ago and wouldn’t consider myself a cardmaker – yet).

So I thought about what other possibilities I have and since I am a scrapbooker who has mainly made layouts up until now, I decided that this would be a good choice for this post. Besides, I really wanted to show all the Hero Arts fans (that’s you ;) ) how you could get the most out of your Hero Arts products!

And because I was in a really crafty mood, I made not one but three layouts showing you different tips and techniques. From using embossing and watercolouring to incorporating planner themed stamps into your layouts and some more.

So let’s start with the first layout.

After I had selected what photo I wanted to use (Kimberly & me at the PaperWorld craft fair in Frankfurt, Germany – where I got to help at the Hero Arts booth, exciting!!), I cut paper strips from different patterned papers from the same collection and adhered them to my cardstock. I then added my photo and some paint splodges, as well as some smaller stamps from different Clearly Kelly stamp sets. I love browsing through the planner stamp sets because they always include small phrases or patterns that fit a variety of projects (like the hearts border or the “Dream Big” stamp from the Girl Talk Planner set).

 

Especially on scrapbooking layouts it’s often not possible to stamp directly onto the paper (because there might be different layers or the paper has a pattern that would make it hard to see the stamp). That’s why I like to cut out the stamped image and then stick it onto my layout.

For that you can use different techniques, you can:

• either hand cut it (like I did with the “Yay!” phrase)
• use the corresponding die (as for the little note tucked behind the photo and the yellow label)
• or, for simple shapes, use a punch (for the “Super Cool” stamp I used a 1” circle punch).

I also used one of the sticky notes from the Kelly’s Everyday Sticky Notes set and tucked it behind my photo to add some more layers and cover up part of the other note.

For the second layout I played with some watercolours and the embossing technique. This layout might look as if it took a lot of time to create, but in reality it was done in about 25 minutes (without the time it took to dry). For the little embossed flowers and leaves I used the Garden Flowers by Lia clear stamp set.

The trick is to keep the stamps on the plastic sheet they come on, so you can use them as one big stamp. First I put some VersaMark watermark ink on the upper half of the stamp set, stamped it onto my layout and added white embossing powder. After melting it with a heat gun, I did the same with the lower half of the set to complete the lower border on my layout.

For the upper border I first stamped and embossed the “Earth laughs in flowers” quote from a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson and then added the flowers and leaves around it. When I had finished embossing, I used some Peerless Watercolours and a water tank brush and painted right onto the embossed area.

To finish off the layout, I added my photo and some small embellishments around it. I also repeated the embossed watercolour look with the origami butterfly.

And, last but not least, the third layout I made with some Hero Arts stamps (and dies).

Apart from the tricks and techniques I already showed you in the first two layouts (like the die cut label or using stamps from the planner stamp sets), I also coloured in the succulents I had first stamped and die cut. To create some dimension, I adhered two of the succulents with some 3D pop dots. What I especially love about this technique is that I get to create something that is one of a kind – because no succulent will ever look the same – and that I don’t have to be good at drawing something from scratch because I can just colour it in :D it’s a bit like an adult colouring book.

Alright, that’s it from me. If you read the whole text, you deserve an award (I know I am a bit wordy..) ;) I had a lot of fun creating these projects and I really hope I could give you some ideas for how you can get the most out of your Hero Arts products – be it for cards, scrapbooking layouts or any other crafty project!

If you like my projects, I would be thrilled if you’d come visit my blog Scattered Confetti. Thank you for reading, and thank you so much to Hero Arts for inviting me!

Color us inspired. Big thanks to Kathleen for sharing her beautiful layouts with our blog readers. It's refreshing to see stamps and dies used in so many creative ways!

Update: If you are a scrapbooker who preserves your memories for generations to come, we recommend you check out this fascinating post on scrapbook.com! If you're a paper lover (aren't we all??), we think you'll find it interesting as well as it includes information about the history of paper and the papermaking process. Good stuff!