Good morning everyone, and welcome to this week’s Hero Arts Blog. There are times when even Hero Arts doesn’t have exactly the message you want to send, so…this week’s challenge is to use a combination of alphabets and/or parts of phrases to create your own unique and personal message.

During the entire week we will be creating silly and serious cards and even a scrapbook page using your very own message. The “Make Your Own Message” Challenge starts now!

This first card “Enjoy” is one of my favorites, why? Because it is very easy to make and the message can be used for a quick word of encouragement or just to let someone know you are thinking of them today. There are lots of times that “Get well soon” is not really appropriate and this card can be used to send a positive message and a postal smile.

Here is the inside message:

The large letters and exclamation point were stamped from the NEW Big All Time Greetings Set (CL350) and the rest of the words are made from the Happy Uppercase Alphabet. The large “E” was created by inking only the “E” from “Enjoy”. The word “Day” was created by inking only part of the phrase “Happy Birthday” and the exclamation point is part of the “J” (upside down) from the word “Enjoy”.

Supplies:

• Big All Time Greetings (CL350) NEW!
• Happy Uppercase Alphabet
• StazOn Black Ink
• Ultra Clean Stamp Cleaner
• Garden Notecards
• Art Flowers Summer
• Lavender Gemstones
• Teal Gemstones
• Orange Gemstones
• Other: paper trimmer, glue, patterned paper, masking tape

Instructions:

1. Trim a piece of patterned paper to fit the front of coordinating notecard. Stamp the word “Enjoy” on the paper using a black ink pad. When the ink has dried, attach the paper to the front of the notecard and add a group of layered flowers with gemstones in the center.
2. After placing the Enjoy stamp on the clear block, ink only the “E” with black ink. Since the letter is at the beginning of the word it is easy to ink only the single letter. Finish the word “every” using letters from the alphabet set. Stamp the word “single” from the alphabet also.
3. Place the Happy Birthday message on a clear block and ink only the “DAY” letters in black ink. Complete the sentiment using the “J” (upside down) and covering the surrounding letters with masking tape before inking. Remove the masking tape before stamping and any stray ink will come up with the tape. Add a single layered flower with a gemstone in the center and your card is ready to send.

Here are some tips for inking part of an image.

• If you are using clear stamps, you can easily cut apart the stamp so that it has just the letter or word that you need.
• Words and/or letters on the end of a phrase are the easiest to stamp.
• Use masking tape to cover any letters and/or words you do not want inked. Quickly remove the tape after inking the desired letters. Pull the tape away carefully to avoid tearing clear stamps.
• Tapping the ink pad on top of the image makes it easier to control where the ink goes.
• If you are daring and good with scissors you can cut the image apart then reposition it on the indexed plastic to use again. I only use this technique if I will be making multiple cards using the same phrase; which is why I use the masking tape instead.

A Mom-to-be’s last few weeks can be challenging so this next card is one that can add a smile to her day. Add this card atop a homemade dinner for the family and you have a friend for life. This card is made with a boy in mind, but changing the colors to pink will work for girls as well.

The inside:

Supplies:

• Big All Time Greetings (CL350) NEW!
• Friendship (CL332) NEW!
• Happy Uppercase Alphabet
• StazOn Black Ink
• Ultra Clean Stamp Cleaner
• Other: patterned paper, blue and beige papers, striped notecards, glue, paper trimmer, scissors, black fine point pen

Instructions:

1. Trim blue and patterned papers to fit the front of a striped notecard. Using a black ink pad, ink the word “soon” from the “Get Well Soon” message and stamp four times on the front of a notecard (notice the placement of the fourth “soon”). You need to leave enough space before the word to stamp “not”. Add the rest of the message using the Uppercase Alphabet set and the black ink pad. Place a series of dots after the third “soon”. Attach the layered message on the front of the card.
2. Stamp the bird from the friendship set on the patterned paper in black ink. Stamp the bird again on the inside of the card (allow enough room to add the baby bundle in his beak). Cut out the patterned bird body and glue over the matching image on the card. Do not add glue to the beak yet. Cut a large, fat, tear shape with two pointed triangles at the small end (like an upside down balloon). Punch or cut a circle of beige paper and add eyes, a smile and a curl for the baby’s face. Glue the blue bundle and the baby face under the bird beak, adding a tiny bit of glue under the beak to hold it down.
3. Stamp “thinking of you” or your own special message above the bird in black ink.

Another idea: One of my favorite “New Mom Gifts” is to create three sample announcements and let her choose which one she likes best. Present her with the desired amount, wrapped with a big bow, so they are ready for her return from the hospital.  (Including postage on the envelopes adds an extra thoughtful touch.)

For this week’s challenge, put on your thinking caps and come up with some original phrases that combine message stamps and/or alphabet sets! Use at least one Hero Arts stamp (it doesn’t have to be the message or alphabet set). Upload your projects to the Hero Arts Flickr Group by Sunday, April 19th at 11:59 PM PST and tag them with the code word “mymessage“.

We will award the following prizes:

• Fresh Face Winner (someone who has not yet won a contest): $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• Scrapbook Page Winner: $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• 1st Place: $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• 2nd Place: $25 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• 3rd Place: $15 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog

Now, how about a giveaway?  Up for grabs is this NEW Big All Time Greetings Set (CL350) from the 2009 Spring Catalog that was used on the cards I showed today! It will be available in retail stores soon! Feast your eyes:

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post.  The lucky random winner will be announced tomorrow.

Until then,

Filed under: mymessage

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 4:04 am and is filed under Motivation Mondays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.