The 12 Kits of Occasions: January with Jeanne "Good Fortune"

PHOTO BY LINDSEY

Hello and Happy New Year! As we start out 2019 we have another new member to introduce to you. As you may remember, last year we sadly said goodbye to two wonderful members of the team, Michele Ferguson and Jessica Davis. We introduced Marcia, Marcia's Stampin' Pad last month and today we officially welcome Kara Pogreba, Bright Hope Creations. We are so thrilled and excited to have them with us!! They both do amazing work and you are going to find so much inspiration as you visit their blogs!

Our super talented hostess this month is Jeanne at A Kept Life. Her kit was a special treat for me as it reminded me of many of the things we have in the fairly new Chinese Garden where I volunteer. Jeanne sent so many goodies and everything was brand new to me. There are so many gorgeous stamped images and wonderful die cuts. And the papers are so cool--many could almost be used on their own!

To visit the 12 Kits blog, click HERE. Jeanne also asked three friends to be guest designers so you will find links to their blogs as well as ones to all the other 12 Kits designers. Be sure to stop by and leave them a bit of love! A list of the supplies in the kit can also be found. 

It seemed appropriate to start with the New Year's card. The paper, gold coin and Foo Lion are perfect for a New Year's celebration. 

I loved playing with one of the Ninja images and that great cloudy moon from Hero Arts.

Of course, a meal would be called for!

The plum blossom is the national flower of China. The plum tree is known for having lovely pink blossoms very early in the spring, sometimes even when there is still snow.

This is probably my favorite as it reminds me of a certain feature of the Chinese Garden. We have a bridge that separates the Earthly Garden from the Heavenly Garden and symbolizes our relationship with our Sister City in Kaipeng, China. It refers to a poem that tells of the friendship for a visiting friend. He describes his love as deeper than the 1000 ft. deep pond in front of where he lives.

Hope you are having a wonderful time visiting all our blogs! And may you get inspiration for some crafty projects. Thanks so much for taking time to visit!

Hugs,

Sharron

Loving Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Kits!

I've purchased a few Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kits but sadly haven't been posting much. This one is from December 2018 and I was sold as soon as I saw this mouse. I chose to make him a brown harvest mouse with some pink on toes and tail. The cool frame is from another August 2017 kit. That's one of the things that attracted me to these kits. Besides the wonderful stamps, they include really awesome dies!

This also gave me the chance to try out my new Picket Fence embossing brushes. I never could quite get a consistently smooth look with my other blending tools and these worked great!

The other new technique I discovered is for using gamsol and Prismacolor pencils. Jennifer McQuire recently posted info about putting the gamsol in a refillable alcohol ink pen instead of using stumps.I didn't have this pen so decided to try some Ranger ice resin brushes that I had. They are rubber, angled and flexible plus the perfect size for detail work. And they worked great! I'm looking forward to trying them again for more coloring with pencils as I love the blending you can achieve.

Thanks so much for dropping by,

Sharron

Supplies:

Stamps and Dies: Hero Arts MMH Kits

Cardstock: PTI White and Smoky Shadow

Patterned Paper: Autumn Dreams (Recollections)

Stencil: MFT Mini Cloud Edges

Misc: Prismacolor colored pencils; gamsol; Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Glitter Gloss; Ranger Princess Gold Embossing Powder; Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls EF