Welcome to the Hero Arts stop on the Operation Write Home bloghop! I’m Sandy Allnock, the Executive Director of the organization - and I’m thrilled to be able to sneak in over here with a guest post at the most inspiring blog on the interwebs to share a little with you!
Hero Arts is one of our best supporters! There are now nine - count em NINE! - fundraising stamp sets…the portion of the sales that are donated really help the organization fulfill our mission to help our deployed service members keep in touch with home! If you’re one who loves clear stamps - you’ll need to check out these six sets…I have to say, I keep the Year Round Sentiments set out on my desk at all times, and I bet you’ll find the same!
And one of the coooolest things that’s happened for OWH recently: two of these sets were released at Hobby Lobby! Be sure to take the numbers with you to your local store so you can request them…our crafters were on a mad shopping spree and cleared the stores in a week, so you’ll probably want to ask them to order in some!
Alrighty. Enough of all that excitement, you came along on this hop to see a card! We’re all making thank-you cards using OWH sketches - and I used #41. I used my Copic airbrush system* to create the background papers, and stamped the stars from the You’re My World set, and the sentiment from the Blessings To You set. I wrote a note inside that’ll be sent to a hero far from home - which is a great way that you, too, can honor those who have made sacrifices for us all. This Memorial Day holiday remembers those who gave their all - and we honor them by serving those who are still in harm’s way today.
And I’ve been told that if you leave a comment on this blog post…you’re going to qualify to win one of the two sets used on my card! You’re My World and Blessings To You are up for grabs for two lucky chatty folks!
So tell me….what are YOU doing to honor the real reason for this holiday weekend? Leave your comment by Monday, May 27th at 11:59pm Pacific time and you’ll be entered to win!
*Feel free to pop over to my blog today, too, I Can’t Stop Embellishing - especially if you’ve never seen the Copic airbrush system - I have a little video for ya with it today!
Earlier this week our very own Tami Hartley celebrated a birthday! You all know Tami from her Tweets and Facebook posts for Hero Arts, her active role in the Hero Arts Flickr Group, and the beautiful cards she shares here on the blog. Tami is such a wonderful friend and colleague. She keeps us all in line & keeps this blog running like clockwork. She does so much for Hero Arts, we couldn’t possibly let her birthday slip by without a little fanfare! So we’ve decided to hijack the blog today to share a bit of birthday love for our dear Tami!
From Lisa - “Happy Birthday, Tami! I know you had some cake already, but I think you should have some more, with extra frosting! You sure deserve it. Love working with ya. Big huge hugs!!!!”
From Libby - “Tami you are the very best coworker a girl could hope for. Wishing you the happiest of birthdays, dear friend!”
From Sally - “Happy Birthday “Swishes” to Ms. Tami… I hope you had a colorful day…”
From Jennifer - “Tami - my dear Tami! You are an amazing colleague and friend and no one deserves an awesome birthday more than you. I love you! XO”
Be sure to leave Tami some birthday greetings here, too!
Hello! It’s Jennifer and I have a card that would be perfect for that “guy” in your life…
I loved the greeting “you mean the world to me” from the AC031 Travel set, but wanted the big world image. So what did I do? I cut the cling stamp! I just removed the small world image and stamped the words only, leaving room for the big world. (Never fear, you can always use the stamp as originally designed still.)
I colored the world with markers and added a tiny little heart accent.
Hi! It’s Lisa here today. I can’t believe Memorial Day weekend is upon us already! And you know what that means: summer vacation season is here! Do you have any fun plans? We are still figuring ours out. Wherever we go, you can bet I’ll be saving maps, ticket stubs, and more from our journey. Love doing this so I can incorporate them into cards, journal pages, scrabooks and more!
Like this card I made with a map from our trip to Big Bend country this February:
I saved a map from Big Bend National park, scanned it in so I could still keep it, and then printed it out on copy paper. Next I grabbed some Distress inks, paint, and new Stamp Your Story stamps and went to town!
I started out by folding the printed map to make creases and then rubbing them with inks. Then I grabbed some white paint to hide a part of the map that was too distracting, ha. Then I stamped over it with some arrows and a date stamp. My favorite part? Using brush stroke stamps to make a background for the message. I used inks in the colors of the canyons in the park. Just love how it turned out. I couldn’t resist adding some touches of gold too.
Don’t tell Jason, but I plan on surprising him by making reservations at our favorite lodge and giving the card to him to let him know when to pack his bags. I figure I’ll circle the date on the front and then I’ll write a little note on the inside. Just can’t wait to go back!
Hi! Joy here to share more fun with the Stamp Your Story stamps. I hope you are all starting to get your hands on these wonderful and fun new stamps, I know that I have had lots of fun playing with them.
Today, I’m sharing another twist on using these stamps. We all know how hard at times it is to create a masculine card, although the more I challenge myself with this type of creating the easier it has become to create this style.
This card would be great for any age genre for a loved male in one’s life. I find that using the smaller stamps to create your own unique background is always a great way to use those types of images.
The AC029 Time Cling set featured on today’s card is the Stamp of the Week! That means it’s 25% off for one week only. There are so many wonderful images in this large 6×8 inch set that it’s an amazing value at just $15.00! You can find it right HERE in the Hero Arts Online Store, with the sale price in effect through Sunday, May 26th.
I look forward to seeing many more creations using these fabulous new stamps.
I know this is shocking… but it’s really me, Shari! You’re probably scratching your head wondering how on EARTH can Shari be using NEONS??? Well truth be told, I really like them! They have completely grown on me.
I’ve created a one layer card using the full range of Neon inks along with the new CL698 Not Perfect set… this card is so quick and easy to make!
Check out the close-up of how well the inks go together.
Hi there and happy Friday! It’s Lisa here with some ideas for ways you can get more from your supplies!
First up, the card. I wanted to get started on my Father’s Day cards early this year, and as I was looking through the new Stamp Your Story collection it dawned on me that the cute birds in the Friendly Birds set could be my Dad and me. If only it didn’t have the word “friends” there…so, I grabbed some trusty washi tape and taped over it, then inked it, removed the tape, and hey presto!
Next, I used the new daubers two ways on the card — but not as daubers! First I used them to color the little scene. I just tapped the daubers on a craft sheet, then picked them up with a water brush. Worked great — especially the little bits of neon on the tail. Finally, a way to get neon watercolors! Woo!
Then I misted the leftover color with water, loaded my brush up with it and tapped it over a Snow notecard to make some little splotches for the background. Love doing this.
In case you are wondering, the tag was made with cardstock where I showed the stamping in gesso technique for Monday’s blog post.
Before I go, I have a fun event to share! Hero Arts is having our first ever warehouse sale tomorrow and Sunday. So if you’re in the Bay Area, come on out and join the fun! 10 am - 4 pm Pacific at Hero Arts HQ. Click HERE for more and a map.
Hope you have a stampy great weekend, no matter where you are!
I have been a long time Hero Arts lover! But I have to say that the Stamp Your Story release has taken my love to a whole new cosmic level! I love the artsy feel of the new stamps. I love the shapes, the themes and the ENDLESS possibilities!!
When I started playing with my box of stamps I immediately thought… Project Life… or any other album documenting system where you incorporate journaling cards!!
These cards came together in a snap. I just layered different colors of ink and voila! I had a whole set of journaling cards.
Today’s post is full of buzz — first up, the news you’ve been waiting for: Stamp Your Story is now HERE in the Hero Arts Online Store! WOO! We have been busy shipping the new stamps to stamp stores all around the world and they are ready to fill your orders. In case you didn’t know, orders placed in the Hero Arts Online store are fulfilled by local stores — how cool is that?
Note that some items have been so popular there may not be many left available. These items have been marked with “LIMITED STOCK” in the product name and you’ll see “item can be placed on backorder” under availability. This means that if no local stores have the items on hand to fill your order you’ll have to wait a bit to get your goodies. But never fear, we are busy brewing more!
Now on to today’s card by Sally — it has a little caffeinated buzz for ya! Take it away, girlfriend!
COFFEE!!! Mmm I love it! Just smelling the aroma gets me excited! I decided this sort of devotion deserved it’s own card. The inspiration continued when I saw the Love and Heart die sitting on my desk - what better to proclaim my love? I used a Latte Folded Card for my base, for obvious reasons. The coffee ring from Texture and Shape and splotches from Brush Strokes were absolutely perfect to create a coffee-stained look on my card! I used so many of my favorite things on this card - the background on the main panel is Keep Calm - I LOVE this background for everything, it’s so soft and subtle and great for alphabet cards. And the new alphabets from Stamp Your Story - Sketchbook Letters and Journal Letters - were instant favorites in my craft room!
Hi everyone! It’s Sally here, playing with some of my new goodies from the Stamp Your Story catalog! One of my very favorite new sets is My Words. The words included are fantastic for cards, or for journaling, or for scrapbooking - or all of the above! And the font itself is just so much fun! I created this artsy little card by combining My Words with some of the fabulous new papers in the Artist Paper pad - the card is actually sitting on the pad itself, it’s hefty and filled with great papers - 42 sheets of them to be exact, 2 each of 21 patterns.
If you’re loving My Words as much as I am - and I know you are - good news! The set is our Stamp of the Week! This week only find My Words for 25% in the Hero Arts Online Store.
