September My Monthly Hero Countdown: Idea #4 + Giveaway

We are back with another look at the September My Monthly Hero release! The kit will be available on Tuesday, September 5th at 1pm Eastern/10 am Pacific. We’ll be sharing ideas for using the main kit and optional add-on products all weekend long (and Monday, too), so stay tuned for inspiration! Now let’s join Ilina, who is sharing another look at this fabulous kit, available on Tuesday.

Isn't this new kit fabulous for fall? Sunflowers are my favorite, so of course I had to use them for my card. And you don't need to use it only for fall cards, pair it with any sentiment and you can make a card for any occasion. For my card today, I started by stamping the first layer of the sunflower in Butter Bar ink  on Snow Layering Paper. For the second layer I "mixed" Butter Bar and Tangerine inks. For the "mixing" of the colors I did the following: inked my stamp with the Tangerine ink and then using soft microfiber cloth, gently dabbed off the ink, then applied the Butter Bar ink and stamped the 2nd layer. For the 3rd, and last, layer of the sunflower I used straight Tangerine ink. Then stamped the center in similar way (the center has only two layers). For the first layer I used Cup O'Joe ink and inked my stamp, dabbed the ink off with towel and applied Pumpkin Pie ink, then stamped the center. For the second layer of the center I used straight Cup O'Joe ink pad. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but trust me it isn't. I added shadows using colored pencils. Next I used the coordinating die and die cut the flower and set it aside. 

For the stem I did the same, only for the first layer I used Lime Green and Moss ink pads, and the second layer was straight Moss ink. I die cut the stem and set it aside, too. 

After my flower was ready, I moved onto the background. I used one of the add-ons to the September MMH kit - Starry Background Bold prints (Van Gogh is my favorite painter, so  I had to use it). I started with a Snow Layering Paper panel measuring 3 3/4" x 5" and smooshed Stone Wash, Navy and Antigua ink pads on it making sure the paper was saturated (the ink started bleeding on the back side). While the ink was still wet I stamped the Starry Night Brushstroke background using Versamark ink and dried it with my embossing gun. This caused the Versamark to leave "white" mark on my paper. Due to the nature of the Versamark ink, it didn't dry completely, so I applied some Ultra Fine Clear embossing powder and heat set it. (I tried to capture that on the pictures below). When all this was done I stamped my sentiment with Versamark ink and embossed with White embossing powder.

After all this was done, I was ready to put my card together. I adhered my panel using fun foam onto Sunshine note card (poppy - the medium hue). Using mounting tape I adhered the sunflower and added few Ombre Sunshine sequins to finish the card.  

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, September 5th, before the kit launches at 1pm Eastern. The more you comment, the more chances to win!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure to check back all weekend long for additional countdown posts with more inspiration and more sneak peeks!