Hi everyone, it’s Lisa here.  I just got back from a meeting at Hero Arts — it was so great seeing the whole Hero crew, including Aaron, Jackie, Todd, Sally, Tami, Jennifer, Nancy, and Shari!  We talked non-stop for four days, and I got to see a preview of the 2010 catalog — speaking of, did you see Sneak Peek #3 HERE?
Can’t wait until December 18th when it will be released!

I wanted you to know that the Glitter Challenge winners are coming around lunch time PST today, because with everything going on I didn’t have a chance to check out all of the entries.

I’m signing off to finish looking at all the glittery goodness,

Today we want to say an enormous THANK YOU to our wonderful Hero Hostesses, whose three month terms are ending today. Has it really been three months already?! Sadly, the calendar says it’s true. It’s time to let them know just how much they have meant to us!

“I adore how passionate our Hostesses are about stamping. It is contagious and inspiring. Thank you for all you have done for Hero Arts and your fellow stampers. Smooch!” - Jennifer

“Lin, Sarah, Cathy, Tif, Lucy, Virginia, Tracey and Kathy! Thanks so much for being our hostesses. It was so great getting to know you better and seeing your stamping creations and all of your wonderfully supportive comments on the flickr group. You truly, truly rocked your aprons! BIG hugs!” - Lisa

“Our hostesses did a wonderful job! So responsive to information, with very little delay. We all know how hard that is, keeping an eye on your computer and juggling work and home life. Thank you again, we really do appreciate all your efforts.” - Nancy

“Thanks for all your great contributions and fantastic ideas on the HERO site. We love your enthusiasm.” - Sally

“You all bring so much to our ‘family’ with your support for us and to the Hero stamping community. I’ve had a great time getting to know you through your art and our activities. Love your kindness and willing to help when called!  Lovies! - Shari

Time and time again, these women have gone the extra mile to help make the Hero Arts community the best it can be. The diligence with which they have commented, created, welcomed, answered, and encouraged has been inspiring.  They even put together their own fabulous week on the blog and are assisting with the ATC swap currently in progress. Huge thanks and hugs to the following eight amazing Hostesses…

• Lucy Abrams
• Cathy Andronicou
• Lin Brandyberry
• Tiffany Ervin
• Tracey Kuzniak
• Virginia Lu
• Sarah Moerman
• Kathy Racoosin

In honor of our hostesses, we’re having a special giveaway for three $25 shopping sprees to the Hero Arts Online Store! For the past three months the hostesses have been so generous with their card comments over in our Flickr group, leaving wonderful feedback day after day. In that spirit of generosity and positive feedback, we would love it if you would do the same and spread some “comment love” in the Hero Arts Flickr Group. Each comment you leave on projects submitted over the course of the next week will give you a chance at winning one of the three $25 shopping sprees. One week from today (Thursday, October 22) we will pop over to Flickr and randomly select three lucky comments to win!

Can you guess who gave us the idea for this “comment love” giveaway? The hostesses themselves! Yep, they are the best. ♥

Hello!  Welcome back for some more World Cardmaking Day fun.

Please note that you can go HERE to leave a comment for a chance to win four new Cling stamps of your choice.

How about some inspiration?  Here is a card using our newest Cling stamps.  You know what we love most about these new large background Cling stamps?  They are slightly larger than a notecard, making them easy to get great coverage and results.  Here is Jennifer’s creation…

Card by Jennifer McGuire.
Supplies:

• Floating Flowers background - NEW Cling stamp
  
• Floral Plate - NEW Cling stamp
• Fancy Friendship
  
• Soft Lilac Shadow Ink
• Black Memories Ink
  
• Lilac Notecards
  
• Other: Creative Impressions silk ribbon, Copic Markers, corner rounder

Here is another from Jennifer.  She stamped the Flower Wallpaper Cling background a second time on white cardstock, cut out three flowers and colored them in as accents.

Card by Jennifer Mcguire.
Supplies:

• Flower Wallpaper - NEW Cling stamp
• Everyday Sayings
• Black Memories Ink
• Ruby Memories Ink
• Blush Notecard
  
• Other: ribbon, corner rounder, Copic Markers

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day full of cardmaking!

We have a winner!  The lucky new owner of the stamps from last week’s giveaway is…

• Nan: “My favorite way to color is with colored pencils. Great ideas! Thanks for the chance to win some stamps.”

Congrats, Nan. We will be in touch.  Enjoy!

This is it, the finale to our sneaks….and it’s an awesome Winter message set Holiday Cheer CL359.  Just look at that cute Colin Face!

Here’s a look at the entire set. We just love the frames around the messages!

Remember you can start your pre-orders in our online store starting Monday!

You loved the sneak peek of the Cling that was used yesterday, Here it is in all its Glory. Just simply beautiful (CG105) Silhouette Flower

Just imagine the possibilities with this image, you can use it all year round!

We hope you’re enjoying the final sneak peeks this week.  Don’t miss Sneak Peek #9 today, then come back tomorrow for the big reveal and the last Sneak Peek of #10

I really enjoyed reading all of your comments about what makes you happy about summer!  So many fun things.  I used random.org to pick a winner — and — drumroll — it’s #182, Eva, who said:

I love the summer for the sunshine, for the gorgeous flowers, the singing birds, it’s just so happy! And WOW on your giveaway!!! I love those new stamps and the pearls!!! Thanks for the chance of winning, sure would love to win these goodies!

Yay, Eva!  We’ll contact you to get your postal address.

Happy summer!

Happy Saturday!

We are here today for a special post.  We are one of the stops on the Cards for Heroes Blog Hop! Cards for Heroes is a great organization that supports armed forces serving overseas by sending them blank greeting cards for them to send home to family, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them.  We did a card drive for them last fall, and collected thousands of cards!

We have a few cards for you today.  The first one is from Kelly Rasmussen.  So fun!  This could easily be changed up for a birthday theme, too.

Card by Kelly Rasmussen.
Supplies:

• Raindrop Background
• Designer Woodgrain
• Card Messages
• Crimson & Kraft Notecards
• Clear Card Buttons
• Memories Dye Ink - Cherry Red
• VersaMark
• Clear Embossing Powder
• White Embossing Powder
• Other: blue and white cardstock, 1″ circle punch, star template, white string, stitching, pop dots

Tami Hartley joined in and created a great star-spangled note of gratitude using images from the Galaxy of Stars set.

Card by Tami Hartley.
Supplies:

• Galaxy of Stars
• Thank You Sayings
• Screen Shadow
• Manuscript Background
• Primary Elements Chalk Ink Queue
  
• Crimson & Winter Mix Notecards
• Summer Mixed Gemstones
  
• Other: white cardstock, ribbon (American Crafts), stitching, pop dots
  

Jennifer McGuire had her son, Colin (age 3) help her put a bunch of cards together, each with a message for a hero.  She just put many clear star images on one large acrylic mount and stamped them several times.  Her son then colored them before adhering them to the front of a card.  Jennifer printed messages for the inside, leaving Colin to sign his name.  This would make a great school project, and we bet this will make some heroes smile!

Cards by Jennifer and Colin McGuire.
Supplies:

• Galaxy of Stars
• Thank You Sayings
  
• Crimson Notecards
  
• Black Memories Ink
• Other: markers, computer fonts, corner rounder and a willing 3-yr old boy.
  

Here is some good news: If you are interested in helping out Cards for Heroes, be sure to come back on Monday for Memorial Day. We have something really cool up our sleeve - something we have wanted to share with you for awhile now.  And for all of our non-USA stampers, you are also welcome to participate - CFH can help you find opportunities for your country.

Time for a giveaway: Just leave us a comment here by 11:59pm PST on Sunday, telling us your favorite kind of card to make. We will pick a winner of these great stamp sets… Galaxy of Stars and Curly Alphabet.

Now… to continue the blog hop, hop on over to Jennifer McGuire’s blog HERE. From there, you will stop by the blogs of many others.  There will be lots of prizes along the way!

Have fun and happy hopping…

We hope that everyone is having a wonderful Mother’s Day!

If you are looking for some last minute inspiration today, we have a card for you.  It is quite simple to make.  First, ink the Bold Flourish image with Shabby Shutter Distress Ink.  Before stamping it, spritz the rubber a few times with water. This gives a watercolor feel.  To add a bit of shine to the stamped heart, squirt some Perfect Pearls over it and smear around.

Card by Jennifer McGuire
Supplies:

• Bold Flourish
• Special Mom
• Hugs and Heart
• Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, Blossom Shadow Ink and Black Memories Ink
  
• Water Mist Bottle
  
• Perfect Pearl White Opal (to make the drops smooth and round, tap the card from the back to settle)
• Felt Button
• Baby Blue Notecard (turned inside out for some fun!)
  
• Other: Creative Impressions silk ribbon, blue colored pencil (to color in some of the dots on the background), text paper

Have a wonderful day.  Hope you get a bit of time to enjoy some stamping!

- The Hero Arts Team

Happy National Scrapbooking Day everyone!  I thought I would hop on the blog today to share a few new page ideas for you - and do some giveaways!!!

First up is a wonderful Mother’s Day page by Sheri Reguly. I just love the tree she created…

Layout by Sheri Reguly

Supplies:

• Screen Shadow
• Patterned Background
• Woodgrain Pattern
• Sparkle Clear Happy Greetings
• ClearDesign Big Circle
• Patterned Hearts
• Soft Pool Shadow Ink
• Colorbox Chalk Queue - Chocolates & Blueberries
• Colorbox Chalk Queue - Rose Petals
• StazOn Jet Black
• VersaMark
• White Embossing Powder
• White, Lime Notecards
• Assorted Clear Circles
• Spring & Neutral Card Buttons
• Art Flowers White and Cream
• Other: cardstock/kraft paper (Bazzill Basics), patterned paper (October Afternoon), ribbon (Michael’s), circle punches (EK Success 1 1/8″ & 1 1/2″), scalloped edge border punch (Stampin Up!), font (Baskerville Old Face), thread, staples

Next up is this cute baby page from Kandis Smith.  Such a happy color combination and fun handmade flower!

Layout by Kandis Smith

Supplies:

• Dots
• Clear Design Friendship
• Three Designer Leaves
• Clear Design Big Circles
• Clear Design  Hello Circles
• Rose Petals Chalk Ink Queue
• Colonial Blue Memories Ink
• Versamark
• White Embossing Powder
• Shabby Shutters Distress Ink
• Kraft Notecards
• Small & Medium Accent Pearls
• Card Buttons Summer
• Antique Round Mini Fasteners
• Other: cardstock, circle template (Coluzzle), machine stitching, linen string

And here is another great layout from Kandis.  The little touches of Liquid Pearls on the butterflies and flowers are so pretty. I just love spring…

Layout by Kandis Smith

Supplies:

• Design Block Silhouette
• Raindrop Background
• Clear Design Sending Happy Thoughts
• Clear Design All Occasion Messages
• Lime Notecards
• Card Buttons Spring
• Pale Pink Pearls
• Shabby Shutters Distress Ink
• Soft Pool Shadow Ink
• Soft Blossom Shadow Ink
• White Opal Liquid Pearls
• Other: linen string, border punch (Fiskars Threading Water), patterned paper (Making Memories), cardstock (Core’dinations), machine stitching

Now, let’s celebrate National Scrapbooking Day with a giveaway! Hero Arts Design Blocks are perfect for making backgrounds for scrapbook pages, so today we thought we’d give away two of our newest Design Blocks — Designer Woodgrain and Dots and Flowers!  Picture these on your next layout…

To enter, just leave a comment on this post by the end of today (11:59 PM PST) telling us your favorite way to incorporate stamps into your scrapbooks and we will announce the lucky winner tomorrow.

But wait — there’s more! We’re doing a blog blinkie giveaway today too! There are three fun blinkies over in the blog sidebar.  To be entered into a random drawing for a great assortment of Hero Arts goodies, just click HERE and leave a comment on THAT post once you’ve added one of the blinkies to your blog. (Tips for adding are HERE.) If you have already added one of the blinkies to your blog, you are automatically entered too!

Whether you’re stamping, scrapbooking, or BOTH today, I hope you have fun!  Happy NSD from all of us at Hero Arts!