I just couldn’t let the opportunity go by to make a card for St. Patrick’s day. But with no shamrocks, leprechauns, or St. Pat’s greetings I was stumped… but only for a few minutes!  It’s another chance to “make it work“.

OK, green is a given. So I perused our catalog for SOMETHING that resembled a three or four leaf clover. Found it… an entire cluster of shamrock looking flowers, our new Designs in Wood K5358 Floral Scallop!  They got stamped in black ink and painted in with shades of green watercolors.  Then I trimmed off the scallop edging,  as it didn’t seem to go with my next invention.  My big shamrock was made out of a heart shaped button stamp from CL406 Buttons!  Check it out!

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

Our 100 Days card for today is from one of my favorite flower sets. You will see many ideas with it this week!

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

So, challenge yourself.  You have a week before St. Patrick’s Day and I am SURE one of your friends would love a card. Grab some stamps and invent YOUR Irish greeting!!  Good LUCK!

And finally before I go, here’s our sixth and final preview before the “New for Spring” release!  What is this?  Perhaps a little something that could be used on the back of a card?  You’ll see the entire stamp tomorrow - it’s the day that all the new designs will be available in the Hero Arts Online Store! And I hear we’ll be having a special store promo as well…it’s a good one so be sure to stop back tomorrow and check it out!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy stamping,

One of my favorite techniques from beginning art class is trompe-l’oeil, which means “trick of the eye”. This amazing technique with colored pencils is easier than it looks. Tomorrow’s video will show you exactly how to achieve it; but I bet a lot of you know how to use this technique.

Card by Nancy Taylor. Click HERE for complete supplies and instructions.

Today’s 100 Days of Ideas card was created by the talented Robyn Werlich.  She created a thank you card fit for spring using Hero Arts stamps and Hero Arts images for the Silhouette machine.

Card by Robyn Werlich. Click HERE for complete supplies and instructions.

Last but not least we have some winners to announce!

The first announcement is for the 30 Grand Giveaway held this past weekend. Thanks so much for your enthusiasm and participation in our little celebration! You had easily hit the 30,000 mark in the Flickr group by mid-Saturday — and while it’s not all about the numbers, it sure is fun to witness the creativity of so many stampers in one place. We thank you ALL for sharing and for making this such a great community! Now…onto the randomly selected winner. Congratulations to bdengler (Barb)! Barb will be receiving an assortment of stamps from our new Designs in Wood supplement.

If that wasn’t enough, we have another big prize announcement — the winner of the March $100 Wish List Shopping Spree! This lucky winner is randomly selected from ALL comments left on the blog in the previous month. Big congratulations to Karen Lingel! Karen, please email us at the winner’s address over in the blog sidebar and we’ll get you all set up with your shopping spree to the Hero Arts Online Store. We hope you have fun shopping!

Until tomorrow,

Hi everyone, it’s Lisa here with another take on digital hybrid cards.

But first, let’s have a look at a traditional card that Sally did — a super fun one loaded with lots of juicy embellishments like flowers, brads, gems, buttons, and ribbon!

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

Doesn’t that card just make you happy? Bulky cards like this are terrific when giving to the recipient in person, but can be a little troublesome to send through the mail. I usually use a padded envelope for cards with this many embellishments on them, or slip a piece of sturdy cardstock on top of the card front when using a regular envelope.

Now let’s look at the hybrid card that I did for today — it’s loaded with embellishments, too, only they are ALL digital!

Card by Lisa Spangler.  Click HERE for complete supplies and instructions.

If I hadn’t told you, would you have guessed that the flowers and buttons are all digital?  Best of all, this card will go through the mail with no problems, woo hoo!

And! A special reminder before I go, I just had to share that our very own Shari Carroll will be appearing on QVC in the UK! View live via the Internet HERE on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7:00pm London time. That’s 11:00am Pacific time, 12:00pm Mountain time, 1:00pm Central time, and 2:00pm Eastern time in the US.  When you visit the QVC site, enter the “Craft” section and then “Watch QVC Live”.  Shari says she’ll be the second presenter that hour!  But of course with live TV, schedules are subject to change.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Welcome back to another day of creative ribbon ideas!

Today I have an absolutely gorgeous layout from Sheri Reguly to share.  I love how the patterns of the ribbon, patterned paper and stamped background all work so well together.  Here’s what Sheri had to say about her layout:

“Try a new twist on ribbon, and create ribbon die cut accents. Simply apply a few rows of adhesive to a sheet of cardstock, and adhere strips of ribbon overtop it. Press down firmly to achieve a strong hold, then run the cardstock backed ribbon through a die cut machine. It really is as simple as that! Try mixing different ribbons together to create an even more dramatic effect.”

And here’s a close-up of those stunning ribbon butterflies…

Layout by Sheri Reguly. Click HERE for supplies and instructions.

Now onto today’s 100 Days of Ideas card with another SNEAK PEEK of one of the new stamps coming out in the Designs in Wood supplement.  Tami Hartley used the Flower Medley stamp to create this soft, beautiful card.  She inked the reverse image stamp with Soft Pool Shadow Ink to create this subtle look.  And I love how she added the stitching to one edge of the ribbon…another creative idea for using ribbon!

Card by Tami Hartley. Click HERE for supplies and instructions.

It’s time for GIVEAWAY #2 this week!  To be entered to win the new Flower Medley image shown in the card above, just leave a comment on today’s post. I’d love to hear about ways that you store your ribbons…it’s something I always seem to struggle with. We will randomly select a winner from all comments each day this week…and on Saturday I will announce all five winners!

From your comments yesterday, it sounds like many of you have quite the stash of ribbons!  I hope this week inspires you to use up some of those ribbons you’ve been hoarding.

Be sure to come back tomorrow to learn a fun technique to use on ribbons!

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,

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…

Hi everyone! We’re back this morning to introduce our next Hero Hostess…say hello to Jill Foster (jillianavery8222)!

Jill provides so much support through her numerous card comments over in the Flickr group — you can just “feel the love” every time she comments! She has a wonderful stamping style all her own, and her “Inspired By” blog feature has become an inspiration to many. She showcases the work of another stamper and then creates and shares her own take on that stamper’s work. Love it!

Check out this fabulous little number Jill created just for today — what a jaw dropper! Stitching, scallops, butterflies…what could be sweeter?

Click HERE for complete supplies and instructions.

Jill’s personality is as sweet as her card. Let’s spend some time chatting a bit with our newest Hostess…

How long have you been stamping and how did you get started? I bought my first stamps 8 years ago, but I got “serious” about stamping in the last two years. Once I discovered the Hero Arts challenges there was no turning back.

When did you discover the Hero Arts blog and did you leap into the Flickr group right away too? I discovered the Hero Arts blog in March of 2008 and jumped into the flickr group right away. The support and encouragement on flickr is incredibly motivating. I feel truly blessed to have found this community.

What has been your favorite Hero Arts blog challenge so far? This is tough! I have especially loved all of the “inspired by” challenges. They really get my mojo going. Plus, the challenges themselves inspired my blog.

What is your favorite kind of card to stamp? Anything with a butterfly! (Even my hubby could answer this one! LOL) I love to stamp “just because” or “hello” cards. It is incredibly fun to surprise friends and family with a little unexpected snail mail.

If you could have one “stamping wish” what would it be? My one stamping wish would be to have unlimited time to create! (And of course, unlimited chocolate to snack on while stamping!)

Thanks Jill! You will make a wonderful Hostess!

Today’s “100 Days” idea features the same Poppy Background Cling stamp as yesterday’s cards. Feast your eyes on the pretty watercolor look here…

Click HERE for supplies and instructions.

See you again tomorrow for another apron announcement!

Back to the heart factory today with my trusty go-to black dye pad.  I just use it EVERY DAY!  Here is our 100 Days of Ideas card for today:

Card by Sally Traidman

You can find the complete instructions and supply list HERE.

I went to town stamping that dotted heart from CG160 Hearts Trio on anything I could find.  I used solid colors, prints, scraps, etc.  I mounted them on a kraft card tied with cotton bias tape in a random fashion.

So then came my new passion for felt.  That same black ink pad works GREAT on felt.  Check it out!

Card by Sally Traidman

For complete instructions and supplies, check it out HERE.

AND, what is even better?  The folks at Kunin Felt told me their felt is made with recycled plastic bottles!  Click HERE to read all about it.

Click on the image below to see our full line of Valentine’s stamps in the store!

We also have some fun news of a FREE product!  For those of you with a fabulous Silhouette die-cutting machine, you can get a FREE Hero Arts shape today in the Online Store which is accessed through the Silhouette software.  (Offer is good for one week.)  And our friend, Nichol Magouirk created this fabulous page using the Heart Swirl shape (top right) and Hero Arts stamps.  Fabulous!

Layout by Nichol Magouirk

Click HERE for supplies and instructions.

See you tomorrow,

Continuing with the “Try to see it my way, only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong” theme, I have a card created by Shari Carroll that I will be using as inspiration to create another card done my way.

Card by Shari Carroll

You can find full instructions and supplies for the card HERE.

Always inspired by Shari’s coloring, I used the leaf stamp on my card to mimic the subtle colors of the shell background that she created on her card.

I used vellum to create light and delicate butterflies that I overlapped to create a focal point for the card. Using stamps and ink you can create a custom background in just the colors and styles you wish.

Card by Nancy Taylor

You can find the full card instructions and supplies HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today, and I’ll see you tomorrow for a Watch It Wednesday video and more inspiration.

Hi everyone, I’m back with more “Now Cut That Out” inspiration.  I’ve put together a printable PDF full of heart shape templates.  Feel free to print and use on your Friendship and Valentines themed cards.   The download is HERE.

Okay, are you ready for a little homespun look and feel?  My card today uses one of the heart shapes from the template but I turned it into a pocket card with the help of some fantastic scallop edged Crate Paper.

Card by Shari Carroll

Have you checked out our Crossword background stamp yet?  I Love it with our Hero Hues White Chalk ink on Kraft cardstock.  You can browse all our new products online Here in our digital catalog.  Full card instructions and supply list can be found HERE.

Remember, Aaron will be here tomorrow to make an announcement of our exciting changes for 2010 and will reveal the details of our challenge.  The theme of the month is Friendship and Valentines, keep this in mind when making your cards this week.

Thanks everyone.  I’ll be back with more “Now Cut That Out” ideas for you tomorrow.

Enjoy!