Hero Arts My Monthly Hero June 2020 Kit

I often look longingly at the Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kits, but until last month hadn't actually purchased one.  I couldn't help myself though.  I LOVE the background that came with it, and there is such a great set of dies in the kit.

For my first card with the kit, I wanted to of course try out the background.  I stamped and clear embossed it on one of the pieces of black watercolor paper that came with the kit.

I've never used black watercolor paper before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, or how opaque the watercolors would be with it, so I started by adding a light layer of white over the areas where I was going to add color.

Then I used a couple shades of blue and a mint green to paint the background.  I added several layers of color until I was happy with the result.  Once I was done, I used my heat gun to reactivate the embossing powder.  This helps the bits that get covered up by paint stand out more, and in this case added a bit of texture to the background too as it didn't necessarily reactivate to a clear gloss.

I then cut the lighthouse die from black cardstock, but I wanted it to stand out more, so I cut it again with a piece of Weathervane cardstock from Papertrey.  I added some black ink to it using a blending bursh, shading the right hand side/bottom to make them darker.  This was layered over top the black die cut.  I inlaid the black pieces into the details of the island itself, but left the windows clear.

The sentiment is from the stamp set that comes in the kit, and it was embossed in silver.

I have some more plans for this background, and I definitely need to get all the dies out to create some landscapes too, but this was a fun first card with the kit.

Hope that your week is going well and you're staying cool!  It's been above 95 for DAYS here!