Hello all and thank you so much for joining us for the Hero Arts 2016 Catalog Blog Hop!
Hero Arts always comes up with the most fun and adorable color layering stamp sets (if you are not familiar with Color Layering, please take a look here). The new Color Layering Gold Fish from the 2016 Catalog is no exception and is a super fun set to play with. It lets you easily create beautiful dimensional-looking fish and with a little bit of heat embossing you can make your “fishies” sparkle and shine like a real wet gold fish!
The card that I am sharing today was also shared at the Hero Arts Make and Take in their booth at CHAW’16 show. The one we made there was slightly different with the window die cut using a heart-shaped die (using one from the Floral Stamp & Cut set by Lia) and slightly different colors of ink (all are listed below), here’s a quick look at that project:
I don’t have the same colors and the same heart die that I used to create my original card (I am in Ukraine at the moment and my supplies are somewhat limited), but I really wanted to do a video for that project so I used similar products.
I used 3 colors of ink to stamp my Gold Fish – Butter Bar, Dark Quartz and Pale Tomato for the original card and Soft Vanilla and Butter Bar to Orange Soda Ombre for the card I’m sharing on my video. I also did a few additional test impression using various yellow, orange and red inks just to see what color combos I like best (I’m sharing a closer loot at the in my video). While I only tried stamping fish using yellows and oranges it can also be stamped using other colors; think about tropical fish (here’s a fun link on Pinterest to explore) and all the fun and vibrant color combos – pinks and blues, greens and purples. There are lots of options.
I liked the idea of having my fish swim in water so I created a little aquarium for them using ink blending. The idea is to die cut a window in a panel and blend the blue and green inks onto another piece of paper to go behind that panel to look like water. I also used various seaweed images to fill in the background and make my water look more realistic. I used the same colors of ink for stamping seaweed and for blending the background. Some stamped images were stamped using lighter colors and some using darker making it look like they are located further away.
A card like this can also be turned into a shaker by simply adding a layer of clear acetate and some sequins and beads.
To make the fish appear like a real gold fish and also to make it appear wet and shiny I used Hero Arts Sparkle Embossing Powder. I usually like to use it for snow (on Holiday cards) or sugar (on fruits cards), but it works great for this as well. I only added one layer of this powder to my fish, but you can add more if you like. Here’s a close up of my heat embossed fish, I just love that sparkle!
VIDEO
I’m also sharing a video tutorial today showing how to create this card! You can watch it at the top of this post or on my Youtube channel. If you like it, I would appreciate you giving it a thumbs up and sharing. Thank you!
BLOG HOP
Want more inspiration using products from the Hero Arts 2016 Catalog? Join the blog hop! Start at the beginning on Hero Arts blog or follow the hop order below:
- Hero Arts
- Lia Griffith
- Kelly Purkey
- Jennifer McGuire
- Yana Smakula – this is me!
- Lucy Abrams – your next stop!
- Kristina Werner
- Kathy Racoosin
- Mariana Grigsby
- Debby Hughes
- Nichol Magouirk
- Joan Bardee
- Lydia Fiedler
- Sandy Allnock
- Julie Ebersole
- Amy Tsuruta
- Kelly Rasmussen
- Suzanne Dahlberg
- Wanda Guess
- Clare Prezzia
- Tami Hartley
- Libby Hickson
GIVEAWAY
Hero Arts is giving away four $25 shopping sprees, drawn from comments left across all blogs in the hop. Comment by 11:59pm PT on Sunday, February 14, and Hero Arts will announce the winners on the Hero Arts blog the following week. Hop along and comment for more chances to win!
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Wow! LOVE this beautiful card, Yana! Such a cool idea to add the sparkle embossing powder, the goldfish look so real! Wonderful video!
Oh goodness! What a great idea on how to use this set…super cute!!!
Oh goodness! I love what you did to create this card with the set! Beautiful!
Beautiful fish love the details. Such a gorgeous card. Thanks for sharing
I have to agree with everyone else. I loving these fish and the sparkle is nice.
I’m not a coloring person either, so I love that you taught me another way to try and achieve a great look without being good at coloring. Thanks! love these fishies!
Love the layering stamps, they give such a realistic look. Cute card.
i lpved this so much i watched it twice. i enjoy 2 and 3 step stamping.
Such fun cards and I like the colour combo too!
Neat! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for a fun and beautiful card and video.. You are very creative and full of inspiration. Thanks for sharing
Awesome card. Love the embossing section of your card. Background is just perfect. Thanks for the wonderful tutorial.
Beautiful fish!
I’m loving it…but then I love all of the cards you make!
cute card and great video!!
nice design !!!!
The layering stamps and your expert coloring techniques make the fish so real. Very pretty card. Thanks
Love the sparkly fish. I have a friend with a koi pond that this stamp would be perfect for.
Beautiful fish card. Never knew that Hero Arts had 2 and 3 step stamping.
Thanks for sharing! Liked your card so much that I already purchased the stamp set and matching dies.
Very very nice first time to your blog and really enjoyed it. THANK YOU!!!!!
Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful and creative ideas with us! Love the sparkly fish!
These stamps are so cool! Very realistic! I love that “Finding Nemo” sentiment 🙂
Super cute card. Love the sentiment too.
WOWOWOWOWOWOW!! SUPER AWESOME!! SO INSPIRED and LOVING the New Products!! THANKS SO MUCH for sharing and have a FABULOUS WEEKEND!! =)
WOW – WONDERFUL cards!!!
LOVE the SPARKLING fish and BEAUTIFUL designs, both the circle & heart look FABULOUS!!!
THANK YOU for sharing your INKY INSPIRATION and video too 🙂
… I haven’t tried layered stamping {{{yet}}} – it looks MAGICAL!!!
Such a fun aquarium card, Yana, and I loved the video!
Unbelievable; gorgeous colors and textures. Can’t wait to try…
Your cards are always so amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Oh, I really love the way you stamped the fish, they look so realistic and beautiful!
Beautiful card and thanks for the video. Love the shimmery effect on the fish.
Beautiful card. Love the sparkles on those fish and the video was fab
Loooovvveee this card. The details make this so amazing. Love your work. Thank you for sharing…
So much fun. Can’t wait to try this set!
I love the fishy card. The colors are amazing together. Thanks so much for sharing.
Fabulous cards! Love the sparkling fish! Thanks for sharing Yana!
Have a wonderful day!
I have never done any heat embossing and it is a technique I look forward to trying. I just love the way it made your fish look.
Beautiful cards.
Who doesn’t love gold goldfish. 🙂
I am fascinated by the layered stamping, it really is a great look. You have done a beautiful job with colors and ideas. Thanks.
Cute little fishies!
LOVE LOVE LOVE the fish…I am inspired! I actually paused the video and got my supplies and worked along with you. You made it EASY! THANKS!
I have a goldfish stamp set, so I NEED that ink set. Yours look like they could “swim off the blog”. Great cards!
Love your video and the pretty fish cards. I like the glitter tape idea, glitter on fish, and the hero set. Thanks.