Hi everyone! It’s day two of my blog week and I’m back with another NEW catalog! Today’s is from Hero Arts-Studio Calico! Check it out!

It’s full of so many awesome designs and papers, I couldn’t wait to play! And play I did, with the new cling Plano (ST518), clear Calico Borders (331074), and 6×6 Take Note paper pad!

And here’s what I came up with — a shaped card! Shaped cards are so much fun to make with die cuts — perfect for the monthly challenge!

Card by Lisa Spangler. Click here for full materials and instructions.

Here’s a closeup so that you can see it better! Just love all the papers in the Take Note line, so glad that Hero Arts will be carrying the 6×6 pad! My favorite part? The stripe border that I stamped with new Wet Cement mid-tone ink! I can see myself reaching for it again and again and again and…well, you get the idea.

Now I know what you’re wondering when you can get these stamps inky, am I right? Well, they start shipping to local stamp stores on March 15 and will arrive in the Hero Arts online store starting April 2nd!

Before I go, I just had to mention that the Stamp of the Week is actually not a stamp at all — it’s the Frame Cuts Classic Frame! Enjoy 25% off these great dies for this week only here in the Hero Arts store.

See you tomorrow when I’ll be back with the third catalog + a video,

Hi again, I’m back today to share a French-themed thank you card. The new Untitled Heart set is simply gorgeous, and I just love the way it matches up with the Newspaper Eiffel Tower background stamp. I chose the sweet hugs and kisses heart from the set for my card, and stamped it in Punch chalk ink on Carnation paper. I do love mixing and matching with Hero Hues colors.

Card by Lucy Abrams. Find full supplies and instructions here.

And the great news is, the Newspaper Eiffel Tower is our Stamp of the Week, meaning it is 25% off in the Hero Arts Online Store this week. Yay!

I’ll be back tomorrow with a new contest, a new technique video and a new card! Lots of fun!!

Bye,

Welcome to Day 2 of our week of teaming up with May Arts!  Today we have two wonderful designers with similar names - Shari and Sheri - and would you believe they both made cards featuring ribbon flowers??  This was not planned.  It was just a delightful, beautiful, glorious coincidence!

First is Shari Carroll’s pretty treat bag.  Here’s what she has to say about her creative process:

“I knew I wanted to create a flower with ribbon, the hard part was choosing which one to use!  I went with my comfort zone and picked muted colors as in this GORGEOUS Organic stripes (385-58-11).  To add texture and a cool border, I used the 1″ velvet ric rac (396-1-01).  For a splash of color I used the Blue Suede string  (395-18-34).  All these ribbons are almost as yummy as the treats in my goody bag!”

Card by Shari Carroll. Find complete supplies and instructions here.

And next, Sheri Reguly’s gorgeous card featuring a rolled ribbon flower. Love it so much!

“Create a thank you card for a friend using wonderful earth tones combined with a splash of sunshine yellow. A homemade flower accent created using May Arts Sheer Box Pleat ribbon (392-58-01) adds a beautiful finishing touch.”

Card by Sheri Reguly. Find complete supplies and instructions here.

If you missed yesterday’s post, be sure to check it out for a chance to win some yummy ribbon!  And be sure and stop by the May Arts blog all week to see what they’re up to!

We also have a Stamp of the Week to share with you!  This week’s stamp is our K5574 Big Eyes, and it’s available this week only for 25% off in the Hero Arts Online Store.

We’ll be back tomorrow with more inspiration and a video!

Hi, everybody!

Just Julie again, with a super fun “thinking of you” card featuring the darling cloud from the Right at Home Operation Write Home set. It occurred to me that the cloud and one of the sentiments from the set together would make a fabulous “thought bubble” effect! I just love when a stamp can be used “outside the box,” so to speak, for something different than originally intended.

Card by Julie Ebersole. Find complete supplies and instructions here.

After stamping the cloud, I outlined it with a pale blue marker and trimmed it out. The soft blue makes white things seem even whiter and brighter. A little ric rac punched from some different shades of green paper were layered onto a kraft card and some tiny punched hearts were 3D mounted and given a coat of Glossy Accents for some added dimension. So cute and easy!

For the Stamp of the Week, enjoy 25% off of the Friend You’re the Best stamp set for the week of January 16th only! Just in time for making your Valentine cards!

So glad you came by today!

Julie Ebersole

It’s day 2 of our week-long blog hop with the Hero Hostesses, and we’re so glad you’re here! The next five Hostesses are on deck, ready to share their inspiring 2012 Catalog creations.

Let’s sneak a peek at a handful of today’s beautiful projects!

…Please pardon us while we drool.

In case you’re joining us for the first time this week, you can click over to yesterday’s blog hop kick-off post to start from the beginning. You have ALL week to take in the eye candy and comment for a chance to win big prizes! In fact, every comment you leave along the hop (including this post) gives you a chance to win new 2012 Hero Arts stamps. Woohoo!

Here we go now…hop along to the blog of Tiffany Ervin and then click your way to all five Hostesses’ blogs.

Have a great day and we’ll see you tomorrow for even more creative goodness!!

P.S. - If you happen to come across any broken links, you can always come back to this post and find links to all of today’s participating bloggers: Tiffany Ervin • Judy Jung • Nancy Krueger • Robin Kubasik • Lin Brandyberry

Hey Everyone… Happy New Year! Our “Love & Hugs & Kisses” theme for January was here for real this past week at my house. I had my grand girls visiting!  And of course, they went to MY art school everyday!  On the agenda - watercolor specks!

And just look at what they created! If time ran out for you and there were some friends who never got their Christmas cards, you can make & send one of these in a jiffy!  Just stamp our new Newspaper Skyline, add some specks of watercolor paint and a few dabs of Stickles, and there you go!  Easy peasy, just ask my girls!

Cards by Sally Traidman’s grand girls!  Find complete supplies and instructions here.

Hope to see all of you in 2012 and I wish you all a GREAT, stamping new year!!

Hello! It’s Sally again and I am back with an old technique revisited! While I was up crafting with the grand girls, we were playing with piles of thin crafting foam. I remembered how years ago we used this thicker foam to make reverse images of stamps. I dragged a few pieces home to try it - woohoo, success!  While the thin did work, the thicker (like bathtub blocks!) is even better. You simply heat it up with a heat gun, press the uninked stamp into it, and it holds its shape. Then you ink it and voila, the reverse image! If you want to change it, you simply clean it off, reheat it and try something else.  I can see bath tub blocks all over the world jumping out of the tub!

I had fun playing with the Leaf and Floral Background stamp.  But get creative - there’s all sorts of fun things you could do with this reverse technique!  Here’s a look at my finished card:

Card by Sally Traidman.  Find complete supplies and instructions here.

So, have fun, take time to PLAY, laugh and enjoy the stressful holidays! I will see you in 2012!

Hi everyone! We are excited to announce that the Hero Arts 2012 Catalog is now live in digital format so that you can see all the NEW stampy goodness! Woo hoo!

So grab a cup of hot chocolate (with marshmallows, of course!) and drink it all in right HERE. Looking for a stamp in the catalog? Well, the pre-release stamps are available at participating stores — find one near you! And, the full catalog will be available in the Hero Arts Online Store starting January 5th. Until then, you can order your own copy of the catalog or a kit right HERE! (And don’t forget, orders placed in the Hero Arts Online Store are fulfilled by local stores — yay!)

And that’s not all for today: Sally is here with some great ideas! Take it away, Sally…

It’s Sally and I’m back to give you a last minute hostess gift idea!  In this busy season we are constantly being invited to gatherings and often come bearing gifts.  Here’s a quick way to make a hanging tag for a bottle of wine, olive oil, sparkling soda, bubble bath or any other bottle of goodness you may be gifting someone with! It’s simply a 2 1/2 x 8 inch strip of paper that is folded at 2 1/2 inches and punched with a 1 3/4 inch circle!  Then decorate the tag anyway you wish!

Tags by Sally Traidman. Click here for suggested supplies & instructions.

Here’s an embellishment idea you may not have tried - the thread tree - it’s my latest obsession!  I love creating objects from thread. There is a stamped tree underneath for a guide, and then you simply ball up thread scraps and glue.  Or if you’re feeling fancy shmancy, try the wire tag.  It’s just long piece of wire with random beads and curls, and a message attached on a die cut shape.  See how simple??

See you after Christmas!  Happy Holidays to all of you!!

Hi, it’s Kelly here!  Today I have a fun little take on this month’s featured technique of Pocket Cards…a double pocket card!  With the help of the wonderful patterns of the Hero Arts Designer Papers, this card was fairly quick to create.

Card by Kelly Rasmussen.  Find complete supplies and instructions here.

To create those cute trees, I was inspired by Jennifer’s creative idea of using banner flags upside down to create trees.  Isn’t she just brilliant! :)  And I am totally addicted to Rock Candy Distress Stickles…they are the perfect finishing touch for a Christmas tree!

I think this card would be perfect for a teacher.  Put a gift card in one pocket and a hand-written note from your child in the other!

Now we have some photos to share, sent in over the weekend by a few of the fabulous retailers participating in the 2012 Catalog Debut. Check out the Preview Party fun!

1. Window shopping, anyone? Junior De Artist in Singapore is ready to host a fabulous Preview Party next weekend!
2. The theme for the party at Wiggles & Giggles in Wethersfield, CT was “Hero Unwrapped”. So creative!
3. An afternoon spent creating with brand new stamps at Stampers Corner in Elk Grove, CA.
4. “Gearing up” for creativity at Stamp on Over in Sunnyvale, CA.
5. New stamps, new catalogs, and lots of smiles at Stamp on Over in Sunnyvale!

Thanks to Freddy, Karyn, Joan, and Julie for sharing the great photos with us!

Happy Stamping!

Hello! It’s Jennifer here and I am SO excited to be here to share a sneak peek card with new stamps! I adore so many of the stamps coming out in the 2012 catalog. So fun.

I created this card using one of the sketches from this month’s Sketch Challenge.

The new Classic Tea Rose stamp is such fun to color with Copic Markers. And the Leaf and Floral Background that I used on the Latte Notecard? It is my favorite of the new cling stamps! The greeting is from the new Merci Bouquet clear set. I actually cut the greeting apart and put part on the outside and part on the inside…

Card by Jennifer McGuire. Click for materials and instructions.

I hope you enjoy this peek at some of the new stamps. Enjoy!