Hi everyone! I’m back with another romantic floral card, this one featuring a SNEAK PEEK of a NEW stamp — In the Garden (K5353) — from our upcoming Designs in Wood supplement!

To give this card a light, airy feeling, I decided to use an acetate notecard - love those, don’t you?

Here’s the SNEAK PEEK stamp so that you can see it better — it’s a reverse image stamp. I get lots of questions about what to do with the inside of a card when stamping on acetate, so here it is!

For complete materials and instructions, click HERE. Note that I was going for a romantic, Valentine-y look, but swap out the colors or the felt heart and you’ve got a card that will work for most any occasion!

The Designs in Wood stamps are arriving at your favorite local retailer mid-month, and will be available in the Hero Arts Online store starting February 22!  WOO HOO!

Now for our 100 Days of Ideas card today, I thought I’d feature another reverse image stamp to show you how versatile they are!

Card by Kug Hee Yim, click HERE for complete materials and instructions.

Kug Hee has worked at Hero Arts for over 20 years, making wonderful cards for display at retailers and in the catalogs — learn more about her HERE in her bio.  I just love how she inked part of the Silhouette Vase in pink and part in orange — so sweet and simple, yet so effective!  And, don’t forget Tami’s technique for using reverse image stamps that Jennifer did a video on — it’s right HERE.

Speaking of videos, see you tomorrow when I’ll be back with a video and another romantic floral idea,

Hi everyone, it’s Lisa here, with my take on our monthly theme:

Since Sunday is Valentine’s Day, I decided to focus on the romantic side of flowers. Nothing says romance quite like a big bouquet, or even a single rose, right?  And the smell…ahhhhh, the smell…

I’ve got lots of lovely floral ideas to share with you, starting with a card inspired by hydrangeas.  I keep seeing them everywhere — from pink ones, to blue ones, to purple ones, and even creamy white ones like the one in the photo:

Card by Lisa Spangler.  Click HERE for the materials and instructions.

Now for our 100 Days of Ideas, I wanted to share these wonderfully romantic table place cards by Sally – they’re so pretty!  I can just imagine using these for a dinner party, along with candles and a scrumptious chocolate dessert, can’t you?

Cards by Sally Traidmain.  Click HERE for all the info.

Hope this post gave you some ideas for our monthly challenge — there’s still plenty of time to submit your entry for the first round! Remember, if your entry isn’t chosen to win in the first group of winners, it is automatically entered in the second round.  So, the earlier you enter, the more chances you have to WIN!  Click HERE for all the details.  I can’t wait to see what you come up with!  And, if you’ve never entered a weekly challenge before, you should know that we are always seeking new stampers — in fact, we have a Fresh Face prize just for you!

See you tomorrow, when I’ll be back with more romantic ideas and a sneak peek of a NEW stamp,

Hello!

Today is the Super Bowl… will you be stamping?  I know I will.  While watching TV, I like to do some coloring.  Here is a good example of a fabulous card you can stamp and color while watching the game!

Card by Lisa Spangler.  For supplies and instructions, click HERE.

Have a great day!

… and I am hoping I can make some time to stamp today!  If you have the same plans, here is a card idea for you.  Our dear Sally Traidman created this beautifully bold watercolor flower card that could work for so many occasions.  I love it!

Card by Sally Traidman.  Click HERE for instructions and supplies.

Hope you have a great day,

I am having so much fun with this week’s BOLD color fun, and this month’s Friendship and St. Patrick’s theme. So many things we could do!

Today, I thought I would share an idea for stamping with color AND coloring with color. Usually I stamp with black ink and then color. For this card, I stamped the flower with green and orange and then then colored with green, orange and yellow. It creates a fun, bold look. Also, to be a bit more eye-catching, I heat-embossed the greeting in white on color - I love the look this gives!

Card by Jennifer McGuire.  For supplies and instructions, click HERE.

And, it wouldn’t be a blog day here at Hero Arts without a 100 Days of Ideas card!  Here is a one I did using the same frame stamp as above, but instead as a frame for a photo.  I also used the same flowers stamps, but instead cut the stems off.  I love finding different ways to use my stamps.

Card by Jennifer McGuire and photo by Amy Grendell.  For supplies and instructions, click HERE.

Thanks for joining me this week.  I hope you are feeling inspired to go BOLD with your stamped projects.  Be sure to come back tomorrow for another 100 Days of Ideas!

We’re back to congratulate the winners from the second half of our January Friendship & Valentine’s Challenge.  But first, a huge thank you to everyone who played along this past month.  Your creations were absolutely amazing, and picking just a handful of winners was next to impossible!  We are continually blown away by the amount of talent in our online community!  You can see the latest challenge entries in our Flickr pool HERE.  And remember, the wonderful entries from the first half of the month were still eligible for these prizes, too.  They can be seen HERE.

And now let’s get on with the show… first up is our Fresh Face winner, going to a stamper who has never won a challenge before.  This time we chose carole-ish and her beautiful Scroll Tree card.  This was one of MANY fabulous entries by Carole-ish this month, check out the rest in her wonderful photostream HERE.

When you see mabelscrap’s card, the winner of the Digital category, we can pretty much guarantee you are going to say “oooh” and “aaah”.  The brightly-colored, cut out digital butterflies on kraft background is absolute perfection.

And now on to our Fab Five, presented in no particular order.  Just like our Fresh Face and Digital winners, every member of the Fab Five will receive a $50 Hero Arts shopping spree!

This card by Pocketful of Paper (Julie) was a favorite from the first half of the month!  Such a cute and clever use of the Buttons stamps!

We loved this sweet card from skermit12 for it’s great pairing of images and sentiment!  Fun, fun, fun!!

WOW is the best way to describe this gorgeous card by prospurring (Anne).  Could her background be any more stunning?

This cutie from Deborah (aka Gigi) made us squeal with delight!  It is the ultimate in sweet simplicity.

And finally, this happy little card from hellokitty 40000.  If it’s raining hearts, let’s leave the umbrellas inside and go out and play!!  Such a fun combination of images.

Congratulations winners!  Please email us your name, address and phone number with “January2010B Winner” in the subject line and we’ll get your prizes right out to you!  And thanks to everyone who played along this month!  Remember, the new challenge for February, Flowers & St. Patrick’s Day, is underway!  Find all of the details HERE!

And as if you haven’t been inspired enough, here’s another 100 Days of Ideas card for your viewing pleasure!  It is in keeping with Jennifer’s bold colors theme this week.

Card by Sally Traidman.  For complete instructions and supplies, click HERE.

Happy Stamping,

Hello! Thanks for stopping back by. I am excited to share with you a fun video today with some bold colors and a great technique.

A few weeks ago, our sweet Tami Hartley shared THIS fabulously colored card and we had lots of requests on how it was created.  So, I asked Tami if I could share her technique in a video - using bold colors - and also show some more examples.  Here it is…

Card by Jennifer McGuire. For complete instructions and supplies, click HERE.

And since Tami inspired us all with the great card and gave us the idea for the video, I asked her if she could do another example.  Check out how she used this technique with bold colors and a striking white background. Wow! Thanks, Tami, for the inspiring ideas!  Smooch.

Card by Tami Hartley. For complete instructions and supplies, click HERE.

And, for our 100 Days of Ideas, I thought I would share a card from Shari Carroll. Although she didn’t use bright colors, her color choices still make a bold, eye-catching impression. LOVE it!

Card by Shari Carroll. For complete instructions and supplies, click HERE.

AND! Guess what? We have a big prize announcement. We’ve picked a winner for the February $100 Wish List Shopping Spree! The lucky winner is Charlene Kochensparger. Congratulations! Charlene, please email us at the winner’s address in the blog sidebar and we’ll get you all set up with your shopping spree to the Hero Arts Online Store. ENJOY!

Have a great Wednesday…

I am back today to share a few more ways to create BOLD color projects.  These cards show making cards eye-catching by layering colors.  Simply, yet very effective!

First, here are some cards I made with just two stamps (the Starburst and our NEW Enjoy the Moments) and our Hero Hues Chalk Inks.  Our chalk inks work great with images like this one - they dry to reveal a perfect, colorful image.  With the simple stamping, cutting and pop dots, these cards just seem to jump out of the envelope…

By the way, I’m often asked about mailing cards that have some bulk to them.  The photo to the right below shows what I do - I slide a plain piece of white cardstock in the envelope to protect the card during mailing.  Simple… and it works!

Cards by Jennifer McGuire.  For supplies and instructions, click HERE.

And, for our 100 Days of Cards, I picked a fab card by Shari Carroll that also shows layering colors.  I love that she stamped, cut out and layered patterned papers to create a dynamite card!  And the touch of kraft paper seems to “ground” it - making it lovely…

Card by Shari Carroll.  For supplies and instructions, click HERE.

Hope to see you back here tomorrow for a video and more ideas.  Happy stamping…

Hello, stampers!

I am excited to be here to announce our next monthly theme and challenge:

And for this week, I am going to focus on BOLD color projects.  I hope to show you lots of ideas for creating cards that pop with color and more.  This will be fun!  Today, I thought I would start with a striking yet simple card set I made for a friend.  Since I knew I wanted bold colored flowers, I decided to keep the background simple and light.  I then created my own box by hand to hold the cards and decorated it to match, too.  (Click on the images to see them larger.)

Cards by Jennifer McGuire. Click HERE to see supplies and instructions.

And, for today’s 100 Day of Cards, I picked a layout and card combo that shows similar bold coloring with a simple background.  Color can really make a project eye catching!  I remember creating this page and card - it was the first project that I did for the new catalog.  Such fun.

Layout and card by Jennifer McGuire. Click HERE to see supplies and instructions.

Now as a special treat, we have a gorgeous sneak peek card from Shari Carroll that features two new stamps from our “Designs in Wood” supplement! This release, which debuted last week at CHA, includes 26 beautiful woodblock stamps plus accessories. Stay tuned…stamps will be shipping out to stores soon. By coloring, cutting, and layering the classy new Etched Medallion image, Shari was able to achieve incredible dimension. So elegant!

Card by Shari Carroll. For complete supplies and instructions, click HERE.

And here are a few more glimpses of what’s to come - many wonderful florals and images that will be a dream to color:

Remember that our month long theme is Flowers and St. Patrick’s Day and the first round of projects are due into the Flickr group pool Thursday evening, February 11th, by 11:59pm PST. Remember to tag your projects with February2010A. And to keep things simple, we have a handy calendar that explains when all the important dates throughout the month - check it out HERE.  We have LOTS of prizes - seven prizes of $50 stamp shopping sprees twice this month!

Have a great week!

Hello again! Before we wrap up the week, I wanted to share this delightful card from Jennifer McGuire that features a charming trio of hearts. Pink and red hearts are lovely, but why not mix it up with some fun and unexpected colors like she did here!? This card can be used throughout the whole year, long after our calendars have passed February 14.

You can find complete supplies and instructions for Jennifer’s card HERE. Enjoy!

Okay, that wraps up this exciting week of Hero Hostess announcements. Thanks so much for joining us all week long and for offering your kind words of congratulations to our new Hostesses. The friendship and support in this group is truly an inspiration. Thank you all!

Check back tomorrow morning as we welcome February with a fresh new monthly challenge. See you then!