Today is our big day — the new website launch!  We are so excited to share it with you.

Here are some highlights of what’s NEW!

First off, we have a brand new, clean, WIDESCREEN look! This means we’ll be able to show videos in widescreen mode and display project photos on the blog at a larger size than before!

Next, we redesigned the site navigation to make it easy to get around:

• Click on the Products button to go to our brand NEW store (more on the store below!)
• Ideas has our great cardmaking, scrapbooking, technique articles, stamp crafts, videos, catalogs and products, all in one place.
• The Blog button takes you right here to the blog, where you will notice not only the new widescreen look, but a new sidebar as well. When you view the project photos later in this post you will see a brand new addition to them too!
• My Hero Club takes you to the Hero Club, where you can login and access your wish list and favorite ideas.  Not a member? Click on over and become one today! AND!  We’ve also added our Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr links there, so you can join our community of stampers!
• And that search bar?  It’s really handy.  To see how it works, try typing in in a product code like D5234 or a subject like flower and hit enter (or click on the magnifying glass).

Go ahead, click HERE or the Hero Arts logo to go to the NEW Hero Arts home page and take it for a spin! We’ll be right here when you get back. :)  You can click on the Hero Arts logo at any time to get back to the home page.

Ah ha, you made it back! Now for more info on the NEW store! It has ALL of the products from our 2009 supplements, plus favorites from the 2009 Catalog!  WOO HOO! And the best part? You can order online and have the option to pickup at your participating local Hero Arts retailer! We love supporting our local retailers. Here’s an extra special video from  Hero Arts CEO Aaron Leventhal with more on the enhanced shopping area…

Be sure to keep coming back this week as we will have more information and a video introducing all the new fun.

We hope you enjoy the changes we’ve made.  This is only the beginning — wait until you see what we have up our sleeves for the NEXT phases in the coming months!

Now it’s  time for some idea sharing! We have several more ideas, each one inspired by projects on our website. Here we go…

Does anyone remember this gorgeous card by Sally Traidman that graced the cover of the 2005 Hero Arts catalog? (Click to see larger.)

Tami Hartley found it amongst her “favorites” file on the Hero Arts website. (Did you know you can mark your favorite projects for future reference? Just log in to your Hero Club account whenever you’re on heroarts.com and click the heart icon for the project you want to save!) Tami had “favorited” this card long ago and was inspired by the timeless design. Here is her version, made fresh with current Hero Arts images.

Card by Tami Hartley.
Supplies:

• Four Leaf Grid
• Raindrop Background
• Printed Flowers
• Artistic Borders
• Everyday Sayings
• Long Notecards Light Kraft
• Neutral Card Buttons
• Smooth Clear Gems
• Soft Sand Shadow Ink
• Memories White Ink, Memories Ruby Ink
  
• Chocolates & Blueberries Chalk Ink Queue
• Other: Cardstock, flourish die (QuicKutz), orange colored pencil, pop dots
  

Who doesn’t love to learn about new things to do with your stamps and inks?  Shari Carroll’s Watercolor Background Effects article is fabulous and full of ideas.  (Click to see more.)

We love how Hero artist Sally Traidman used techniques from Shari’s article as inspiration for this card in her own style.

Card by Sally Traidman.
Supplies:

• Fancy Designer Flourish
  
• Everything You Do
  
• Flower Background
  
• White and Green Apple Notecards
• Soft Lilac and Black Memories Inks
  
• Art Flowers Summer
  
• Sparkle Gem Flowers and Teal Gemstones
• Other: Watercolors for background colors mixed on teflon mat
  

Did you know that there are several scrapbook technique articles by Leslie Lightfoot in our Technique area?  A favorite is called “Beyond Paper,” one that talks about things to stamp on besides paper.

Kelly Rasmussen was inspired by this article by Leslie.  Kelly said, “I especially loved the idea of stamping on canvas like Robyn did in her layout.  It gives so much texture and interest to a card.  For my card, I clear embossed the Old Letter writing stamp on the canvas, then rubbed over the top of it with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink.”

Card by Kelly Rasmussen.
Supplies:

• Old Letter Writing
• Thoughtful Messages
• Long Notecards Light Kraft
• Pink Notecards with Envelopes
• Shabby Shutters and Scattered Straw Distress Dye Ink Pads
• Ruby Memories and Versamark Ink Pads
  
• Clear Embossing Powder
  
• Other Materials: Sticky-back canvas (Claudine Hellmuth), patterned paper (K & Company), die cut, circle punch, ribbon (Basic Grey), sewing, pop dotsNo,

Now, we can’t have a big day without a prize, can we?!  So, leave a comment here by Saturday at 11:59 pm PST telling us what you like best about our new site and we will pick a lucky winner of another $100 shopping spree for our new online store!

And remember, we are staying busy giving things away over on Twitter and Facebook, too, so be sure to check us out there.  (And, don’t forget that you can easily get to Twitter and Facebook from the My Hero Arts landing page!)

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in our excitement today!

Filed under: website

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 3:03 am and is filed under Watch It Wednesdays. 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.