Hero Arts Balloon Bash! Stamping, Ink Blending and Stenciling

April 16, 2025April 8, 2025 Karen BrownLeave a comment

Ready to party? I had a blast creating this bright and festive birthday card using brand-new goodies from the Hero Arts Let’s Celebrate Collection! This project is perfect if you’re looking for a quick, colorful card that makes a big impact.

A handmade card with seven colorful stenciled balloons in rainbow colors, layered with foam tape. Balloons feature squiggles, dots, and stripes. Sentiment reads "It’s Your Day!"

Card Details: Rainbow Balloons That Pop (Literally!)

This card features a happy cluster of seven stamped, ink-blended, and die-cut balloons, made with three coordinating products:

The process was pure fun:

I started by placing the cover plate die in my stamp positioner and aligning the large balloon stamp (a cluster of five balloons) over the die. Once perfectly placed, I closed the lid so the stamp was now on the positioner lid, removed the die, and was ready to stamp and die cut with precision. There is a process photo below.
Since I wanted seven balloons, I stamped, inked, stenciled, and die-cut the design twice.

Color & Stencil Party

Each balloon got its own personality with Hero Arts Reactive Inks in cheerful rainbow shades. I blended two shades per balloon, adding darker ink toward the bottom for dimension. The layering stencils let me add playful squiggles, dots, and lines to five of the balloons for extra party vibes.

Reactive Inks Used: Taffy, Berry Smoothie, Lemon Drop, Creamsicle, Key Lime Fizz, Green Apple, Pool Party, Blue Raspberry, Splash, Blue Hawaii, Thistle and Grape Slush.

Two balloons are adhered flat to the background, and five are popped up with foam squares so they practically float off the page! 🎈

I finished the design with a stamped “It’s Your Day!” sentiment from the Party Fans Stamp Set.

Festive rainbow hued balloon card featuring Hero Arts Balloons stamp, cover plate die and layering stencils. CM790, DF241, SA299.

Pro Tips for Balloon Perfection:

Use two coordinating ink colors per balloon to make them feel round and full.
Add stenciled patterns after ink blending for clean, vibrant detail.
Pop some balloons up on foam tape to add playful movement and dimension.

7 stamped, rainbow ink blended, stenciled and die cut dancing and floating balloons on a handmade card perfect for Birthdays, Graduation or any festive occasion.

This design is fast, festive, and beginner-friendly—but has that pro finish thanks to the coordinated stamps, dies, and stencils.

Stenciled and stamped card with 7 rainbow colored balloons floating across the background.

What would you celebrate with this set? Birthday? Graduation? Just-because balloon-o-rama?

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WWC225 – Donna\’s "All About Occasions" Challenge

June 12, 2019 Karen Brown6 Comments

Hello there! Today starts Watercooler Wednesday\’s \”All About Occasions\” Challenge and I\’ve created a Get Well Scene card. Donna is our hostess and I hope you will stop by our website to see what the other artists have created. This is such a fun prompt because there are dozens of occasions you can create a card for.

Last year, I ordered one of Simon Says Stamp\’s \”Mystery Sacks\” and Clearly Besotted\’s \”Lift Me Up\” was one of the sets in the package. I don\’t think I would have purchased this set, but I\’ve had a lot of fun playing with it. So far I\’ve made a birthday card, baby shower card and this Get Well card.

You can mix and match hot air balloons and baskets so I went with the duck balloon and puppy basket. I thought it would be fun to have a friend on the ground so I added the Scottie from MFT\’s Lucky Dog set. I colored and die-cut the pup and then adhered him to the bottom with foam tape so he would have dimension.

I stamped my little scene on an A2 panel and colored with Copic Markers.
I cut some masks because I wanted to add a \”cloud and ground\” background with Tumbled Glass (Tim Holtz) and Sand Dunes (Altenew) Die Ink. I used my new Picket Fences Life Changing Brushes.
Finally I die cut with a stitched rectangular die.

I am entering this card in:

Pile It On\’s Transportation Challenge

Crafty Catz Anything Goes Challenge #465

Update: I was very pleased to see that my card received the \”Sweet Sprinkles Award\” at Pile It On Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

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Birthday Balloons

May 11, 2019 Karen Brown5 Comments

Hello there! Last year, I ordered one of Simon Says Stamp\’s \”Mystery Sacks\” and Clearly Besotted\’s \”Lift Me Up\” was one of the sets in the sack. I don\’t think I would have purchased this set, but I\’ve had a lot of fun playing with it. So far I\’ve made a birthday card, baby shower card and Get Well card.

You can mix and match hot air balloons and baskets so I went with the duck balloon and puppy basket. I thought it would be fun to have a friend on the ground so I added the Chihuahua from MFT\’s Lucky Dog set. I colored and die-cut the pup and then adhered him to the bottom with foam tape so he would have dimension.

I started by inking the \”grass\” with Pink and Main\’s Pattern Maker Pinstripes with Twisted Citron Distress Ink.
Next I stamped my little scene on an A2 panel and colored with Copic Markers.
I cut some masks because I wanted to add a \”cloud\” background with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I used my new Picket Fences Life Changing Brushes.
Finally I die cut with a stitched rectangular die.
I think this is a cute little scene card and I am entering in the following:

Seize the Birthday Balloon Challenge – I definitely went all the way and included the optional \”Balloon\” toppings prompt!

Allsorts Transport Challenge – This duck balloon will transport you…but who knows where you\’ll land!

Alphabet Distress Challenge I used distress ink for the \”grass and cloud\” background.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen