Happy Wednesday everyone! Are you ready for some more color inspiring ideas to get your day started?

Today we are working with a somewhat traditional holiday color scheme with a few surprises thrown in. The red, green and blue are very much what we’d all expect in Christmas colors but have you ever tried adding touches of orange and yellow? Today, Jennifer and I both give it a try!

I did a layout today using this color scheme. It was a great combination of colors to work with two of my favorite Christmas photos of the kids from last year. For my main element on the page I used a Hero Arts digital kit for the ornament, I printed it out on photo paper for a nice sheen finish, then I cut it out with scissors and added to my page. Additional detailing was added with some stamping - then I embellished with chipboard, buttons and some red metallic decor.

Supplies:

• Digikit - Hero Arts Joyful Ornaments
• Houndstooth Pattern
• Card Buttons Summer
• Card Buttons Neutral
• Red Metallic Decor
• Other: patterned paper, needle & embroidery thread, chipboard circles, green ribbon

Leslie’s Tips:

• If you are blocking out a page with squares and rectangles of paper, be sure to introduce some curves to the design like I did here (circle ornament, buttons, curved bottom photo corner). It softens things up a bit.
• Sometimes when I am adding a long strip of ribbon to a page, I will cut a strip of sturdy cardstock first and adhere it to this first. This helps the ribbon go on perfectly straight and keeps the adhesive from seeping through the fabric of the ribbon.

Next we have some cards for you! Jennifer McGuire used a few of her favorite techniques to create these simple (but show stopping) holiday cards. Be sure to watch the video below showing how to color metallic decor, multi-ink a stamp and create a “kissed background.” I bet you’ll learn something new - I know I always do!

Supplies:

• Winter Tree
• Holiday Sayings
• Holly Flourish
• Friend Definition
• Colorbox Fall Chalk Ink Queue
• Scattered Straw Distress Ink
• Black Memories Ink
• Silver Metallic Decor
• Other: Copic markers

Jennifer’s Tips:

• Creating a set of coordinating greeting cards makes for a special gift - tie a bow around a set of four for a personalized gift anyone would love.
• Simple embellishments like the Metallic Decor or gemstones from Hero Arts make a subtle but memorable statement on your stamping projects.

I hope you enjoyed today’s video and got some great ideas on how to work challenging color combos onto your layouts and card designs.

Don’t forget you still have time to enter Tuesday’s giveaway for the chance to win some fabulous Hero Arts stamps and embellishments!

Happy middle of the week (already!) Today we’re kicking up our simple holiday designs with a little heat embossing. Embossing always gives a card that extra “something special”. Impressive results with minimal effort — definitely a good thing! And what’s better than a little silver and gold for the holidays? Today our Web Artists offer ideas for both!

First, Laura Griffin gold embossed poinsettias on a red ornament for the ultimate in simple holiday elegance. Laura says, “Whenever I mass-produce cards, I try to keep it simple. The new Hero Arts cling stamps are perfect for simple designs. When I first saw the Poinsettia Circle stamp, I knew it was meant to be a Christmas ornament! After heat embossing the image with gold powder onto a crimson notecard, I die-cut the circle, then added a custom topper complete with silk bow. Watch today’s video for details on how to make this card and for tips on mass-producing cards for the holiday season.”

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Holiday Sayings
• Poinsettia Circle
• Gold Embossing Powder
• Chalk Ink Queue - Christmas (Warm Red)
• Versamark
• Crimson, Kraft Notecards
• Other: red silk ribbon, gold elastic cord, scallop edge scissors

Laura’s Tip: Need to create holiday cards for all your family and friends but daunted by the task? Break apart your stamping and cardmaking into segments so you don’t have to do it all in one day! Heat emboss all of your circles to start, then punch/diecut them out later. You can create an assembly line on another day to pull the finished cards together.

Now how about something silver for the holidays? Jacki Jones came up with a sophisticated design that combines a silver embossed tree with blue, green and white. Such a classy look!  Jacki shares, “As much as I love to color, I rarely choose an image that requires a lot of coloring when I’m making multiples. I chose to emboss the Winter Pine in silver for a big impact with just a little effort. When making family Christmas cards, I create an assembly line and enlist other family members to help. With a little planning, this card is quickly and easily duplicated many, many times.”

Supplies:

• Winter Pine
• Sparkle Clear: Holiday Messages
• Winter Mixed, Holiday Mixed, White Notecards
• VersaMark
• Silver Embossing Powder
• Silver Metallic Decor
• Other: gingham ribbon, corner punch, mini glue dots

Jacki’s Tip: Consider the embellishments and how they are packaged before planning the card. I divided the package of Silver Metallic Decor, so that I could get four cards from each package by using both sizes on each card.

And that’s a wrap for this Wednesday. I hope these ideas have inspired you to grab — or perhaps dust off — your embossing gun and powders. Have a great day, everyone!

P.S.  Don’t forget…there’s still a chance to win one of two great prizes on yesterday’s post!

Paper tearing is so much fun and very freeing. You never know exactly how the paper is going to tear so you just have to be creative on the spot. It becomes more of an art project –  not perfect corners, just lots of fun tearing and gluing.

I was having so much fun, I had a hard time deciding which techniques to include on today’s video. I added a few inking ideas too. You all probably know these, but they are my favorites and I wanted to share them.

Here’s the “footprint” card shown in the video…yes you can make the baby feet without a baby.

Now, I have a question for you (this is a little hint at one of Friday’s projects!)  Can you find vellum at your local store? Do you enjoy working with it? Let us know if you like using vellum paper and if it is readily available to you. We will randomly pick a winner and send a prize…and some vellum too!

Very often I find myself making tree cards for Christmas. However, a snowflake tree in Palm Springs? I don’t think so! Instead I took the Snowflake Tree and stamped it in various greens instead of the white it suggests. Here are three different variations on my green tree.

My pink and green design (I’ll always love those colors…I could be Lilly Pulitzer!) is up first. Very simple but effective.

Supplies:

• Snowflake Tree
• Clear Design: Holiday Sayings
• White Notecards
• Lime Notecards
• Kraft Notecards
• Blush Notecards
• Memories Black Ink
• Memories Green Ink
• Pink Gemstones
• Red Gemstones
• Other: star brad, hole punch

Next I stamped the tree two times in two greens very close to each other. Add some bows, stitch it up and call it done.

Supplies:

• Snowflake Tree
• White Notecards
• Kraft Notecards
• Lime Notecards
• Soft Leaf Shadow Ink
• Chalk Ink Queue - Primary Elements
• Star Gem Shapes
• Citron Gemstones
• Other: ribbon, permanent marker to color gem, green scrap, sewing machine

The last one is stamped on lightly printed patterned paper. Piece it together with some other stamping and a punched border. Then add one of our new Poinsettia Art Flowers and some gems.

Supplies:

• Snowflake Tree
• Clear Design: Holiday Sayings
• Chalk Ink Queue - Primary Elements
• Red Gemstones
• Poinsettia Art Flowers
• Gold Metallic Decor
• Holiday Mixed Notecards
• Other: printed paper, EK Success Martha Stewart border punch

One of my other jobs last week was to create a craft to use for perhaps a Christmas gift. I had so much fun making it, I decided to show you just how simple making a stamped bracelet could be. (Click HERE for complete supplies and instructions.) So for today’s video, here is a little peek at how I did it.

And as we mentioned last week, the folks at DiyBangles.com are giving our blog readers a special deal! Just click HERE and enter the coupon code HEROARTS-ARTIST$12 upon checkout for $12 off a $25 purchase of bangles, beads or wood shapes.

Tami will be here tomorrow to announce the Paper Piecing Challenge winners, so I’ll see you on Friday!

Hi everyone! Are you ready for some more paper piecing ideas? I have lots of paper piecing goodness to share with you today (plus a video) so let’s get right to it!

To kick things off, I bring you Laura Griffin and her adorable skating mouse card. Mr. Mouse looks so cute all dressed up for winter! Here’s Laura with more: “When it comes to paper piecing, only your imagination is the limit! You can stamp your own textures, use patterned paper, or just stamp elements onto plain cardstock for a fun layered look. When Tami asked me to create a design for this week’s theme, I knew I had to use Hero’s new Dancing Mouse image. I think he looks a little more like a skater, don’t you? He’s been dying to go for a spin around the local pond bundled in his favorite winter scarf and sweater.”

Supplies:

• Dancing Mouse
• Clear Design: Holiday Sayings
• Prisma Glitter
• Winter Mixed Notecards
• Winter Chalk Ink Queue (French Blue)
• Diamond Stickles
• White Embossing Powder
• VersaMark
• VersaColor Bamboo Ink Cube
• Other: Copic markers, patterned paper (Making Memories), black ink, white cardstock, McGill retro word window punch

Now, watch Laura’s video below to learn more about paper piecing, as well as creating your own free-form elements like the icy pond shown on her card.

Next, I created a card with the same sentiment as Laura’s and decided to pair it with the tree from the Clear Design: Holiday Dolls set. The “zig-zaggy” nature of this tree is great for piecing. Just trim right along the dotted garland sections and reassemble. I thought it would be fun to give the tree some personality, so half of the tree is pieced with green grid patterned paper and the other half is pieced with a design I stamped — the Antique Flower Background. I ended up creating another tree with the leftover pieces, couldn’t let them go to waste!

Did you notice the other bit of piecing here? It’s the scalloped rectangle from the Clear Design: Large Christmas Tags, which makes not only a great tag, but a great image frame as well. I stamped the image once in Broken China ink onto white cardstock and again in black ink on kraft dot paper to capture the inner frame portion.

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Holiday Dolls
• Clear Design: Large Christmas Tags
• Clear Design: Holiday Sayings
• Antique Flower Background
• Distress Ink - Broken China, Shabby Shutters
• Memories Black Ink
• Citron Gemstones
• Other: cardstock, patterned paper (stripe - American Crafts, kraft dot - Making Memories, green grid - Colorbok), Bazzill Dotted Swiss white cardstock, white pen, paper piercer, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Last but not least, I invited Kelly Rasmussen to come play, and here’s the super sweet baby card she came up with. She pieced both the boat and the Write Your Own stamp — double the piecing, double the cuteness! She again shows how stamping the pieces onto small-scale patterned papers can give great results.

Supplies:

• Clings: Write Your Own
• Clear Design: Baby
• Clear Design: Precious Baby Boy
• Clear Mixed Gemstones
• Other: cardstock, patterned paper, buttons, scallop border punch, brown ink, pop dots

I hope you’re feeling inspired to try some paper piecing this week! I’m impressed with the wonderful paper pieced cards that are popping up in the Flickr group. Awesome! Remember, you have until this Sunday at 11:59pm PST to submit your creations for the challenge.

Shari will be here tomorrow to announce the winners of her ATC challenge and I’ll be back on Friday with more paper piecing ideas…with a twist!

Oh what a fun week this is.  The flickr gallery is loaded with some Fabulous ATC’s already and we’re only three days into the week.  Awesome work everyone!  For those of you who might just be joining us, this week is dedicated to ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards).  The cards measure 2.5″ x 3.5″ or 6 cm x 9 cm. They are used for trading with other artists and sharing. Some of you asked what goes on the back, I usually put my name, the occasion or date and stamps used.

Today I thought I’d visit Winter with some fun ATC’s with Christmas and snow. But first I’ve got a video for you. Have you ever wondered how we stamp a complete background of little stamps?  Take a peek, it’s so easy!

Here’s the ATC I made in the video.  I love these new Poinsettia Art Flowers, they’re so delicate!  I thought I’d change things up a bit and only round three of the corners.

Supplies:

• Holiday Sayings
• Poinsettia Art Flowers
• VersaMark Ink
• White Embossing Powder
• Clear Buttons
• Other: Basic Grey Paper, Kraft cardstock, corner round punch, hemp string

I had a lot of fun with this next one! This bird is so CUTE!! I’ve done some basic stamping, coloring with pencils and cutting. I like the clean lines of it.

Supplies:

• Bird with Holly
• Red Metallic Decor
• Memories Black ink
• Other: Corrugated cardstock from The Paper Company, Blue Dot from Bo Bunny, index card, cardstock, sewing supplies

This is a quick Hybrid digital ATC.  I printed out the sentiment, cut it out, edged it with ink, then layered it onto some yummy Basic Grey paper with felt and gemstone snowflakes.

Supplies:

• Seasons Digital Kit
• Felt Snowflakes
• Frosted Lace Stickles
• Tattered Rose Distress ink
• Snowflakes Gems
• Other: Basic Grey papers

Okay, this Santa is great!!! At first I thought he might be too big for an ATC.  But after I cut off his boots and let his leggings go to the edge, I think it really works. You never know what will work until you try it.

Supplies:

• Santa with Gift
• Holiday Sayings
• Lot Like Christmas (Background)
• Peeled Paint Distress Ink
• Memories Black ink
• Clear Buttons
• Other: Basic Grey Paper, Ranger Glossy Accents, color pencils, hemp string

You still have time to get your entries in for the HeroArtsATC challenge.  Just load your card to the Flickr group pool by 11:59 EST on Sunday, Oct 4th to be eligible for our fantastic prizes.  To view more challenge information check out the link HERE.

Swap Announcement: On Monday I mentioned that we are going to have our first ever Hero Arts ATC swap.  I’ve put together some guidelines for you to look over before we open the sign-ups.  Here you go!

Hero Arts ATC SWAP Guidelines:
Sign-ups will begin Oct 2nd at 11:00 am EST. in the flickr group discussion area here. We will have four separate threads designated by countries.  Please sign -up in your home country thread.  We will be swapping with the first 200 people who sign up. Each thread will have additional information for you to follow.

A little about the swap: Create 10 FRIENDSHIP THEMED ATC’s (keep one for yourself). An ATC is 2.5 inches x 3.5 inches (6cm x 9 cm or 64mm x 89mm). It can be vertical or horizontal, with square or rounded corners. Design your cards to show off your artistic style. Keep in mind the bulk of your cards as they may be put into protective sleeves. Put your name, Hero Arts ATC Swap, date and stamp info on the back of your cards. Mail your ATC’s to your hostess by Oct 23, 2009. You hostess will sort  and put them together in bundles to ship back to you by November 1st.  Note: Please use at least one Hero Arts Stamp on your ATC.  The swap is separate from the challenge.

Thanks everyone for a fantastic week, I’m heading out tomorrow to Houston for a trade show and will be blogging from there on Friday.  I’ve got a HUGE day planned with special guests, plus I’ll be announcing the winner of Tuesday’s 7Gypsies give away, stay tuned!  Nancy will be here tomorrow to announce her Photo Card challenge winners, good luck everyone!

Enjoy the day!

Whew, finally… my computer is “off restriction”. I have the video I promised on creating corners to match your cards.

I have used solid colors for all the corners, but printed papers are beautiful also.

The wider corners can be punched with small holes to add charms and accessories that dangle slightly over the photo.

I added a small section on stamping on layers and how to complete the design that gets lost in the layers of paper.

Have fun making corners to match all your card projects!

I know you all were expecting a Wednesday video with your morning coffee: and I had it all ready for you. However; my computer decided to take the morning off and act like a spoiled child. I apologize for my “technical spoiled child” and hope he is out of time out by noon PDT.

Thank you for your patience,

Well, it’s Wednesday (already!) and you know what that means — video time! And today and we have not one, but two projects with videos to share!

First, we asked Hero Arts artist Jennifer McGuire to play along with our challenge. We asked her to do a new take on the very first video she did for the Hero Arts blog.  THIS video shared tips for stamping on clear surfaces. Seems like just yesterday! And here is Jennifer’s new spin on the topic — creating stamped candy bags from recycled Hero Arts packaging. Genius, I tell you! Watch the video below to see how she made these awesome Halloween treats…

Supplies:

• DesignBlock: Bold Flourish
• Tall Pumpkin
• Clear Design: Happy Halloween
• Stamp It: Halloween
• StazOn Cotton White & Jet Black Ink
• Other:  Packaging from Hero Arts clear stamps and gemstones, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, candy, ribbon and twine

So creative — her  project is going straight on my “stuff to make” list. Thanks, Jennifer!

Next, we’re joined by a Hero Hostess from across the pond… Cathy Andronicou! She has a fabulous acetate card makeover to tell you about. Here’s Cathy with more details: “I have learnt so much from the Hero Arts blog in the last year, I have tried to incorporate a few of them in the remake of this original card…”

(Click  image for a larger view.)

“I had never thought of colouring in a stamped solid image or adding highlights until I saw it on the blog, nor had I distressed the edges of my cards or tried stitching (thanks Shari for this technique). As the original stamp is no longer available, I chose to re-create the design from stamps in the 2009 catalogue.”

Cathy suggests stitching the panel to the acetate to avoid adhesive or tape showing. And she has even more tips in this fantastic video tutorial which she’s put together to demonstrate how to make the butterfly on her card. Click HERE to watch!

Supplies:

• Heart Flourish
• Heart Winged Butterfly
• Raindrop Background
• Clear Design: All Occasion Messages
• StazOn Cotton White & Jet Black Ink
• Faded Jeans, Broken China & Walnut Stain Distress Ink
• Small & Medium Accent Pearls

Cathy, your card is exquisite — each and every detail! Thanks so much for the inspiration, and for the wonderful tutorial.

Thanks for stopping by today! No matter where you are on your stamping journey, we hope you’ll be able to play along with this week’s challenge. All you need to do is create a project trying something new or something you have recently learned. (For complete challenge details check Monday’s post HERE.)

Happy learning, happy stamping!

A new day, a new color palette! Here is our Fall-inspired selection of colors for today…

We’ll call these Chocolate, Creamy Taupe, Pumpkin, Pine Green, and Burgundy. This rich and earthy color scheme is spiced up with a deep reddish-purple hue. I imagine these colors knit together as a scarf!  Speaking of fashion, did you know the the folks at Pantone issue “Fashion Color Reports” each season? They predict seasonal color trends which are based on fashion and carry over to home decor and other areas — papercrafts come to mind! The Fall 2009 report can be found HERE. It’s an interesting read. From time to time I’ve printed these color swatches and tacked them up on my bulletin board for stamping inspiration.

Kicking things off with today’s palette is Jacki Jones, with a beautiful autumn card featuring a pair of our new pumpkins. The Traditional Pumpkin and its lanky friend, the Tall Pumpkin are fun to color. Jacki shares, “Coloring is therapeutic for me so I don’t put pressure on myself to make it too perfect. For this reason, I don’t usually choose images that are too terribly realistic. I prefer open lines or sketchy images without a lot of shading from the stamp artist. My goal in coloring images is to create interest and variation. Give yourself permission to make coloring fun!”

Supplies:

• Traditional Pumpkin
• Tall Pumpkin
• Clear Design: Happy Thanksgiving
• Antique Flower Background
• StazOn Jet Black
• Soft Leaf Ink
• Fall Mixed, Holiday Mixed Notecards
• Prisma Glitter
• Other: Prismacolor pencils (yellow ochre-942, mineral orange-1033, pumpkin orange-1032, terra cotta-944, lime peel-1005, olive green-911, dark umber-947, and colorless blender pencil-1077), textured beige cardstock and cranberry cardstock, ball point glue pen

Jacki has even put together a  great video tutorial brimming with useful colored pencil tips. Here’s Jacki now in her Hero Arts video debut!!

Let’s hear it for Jacki’s first video…woohoo!

More Tips from Jacki:

• When masking, it’s important to remember that you stamp the image that will be in the foreground first.
• The paper that the pumpkins were stamped and colored on was slightly textured. If you’re used to coloring on smooth cardstock, try coloring on textured paper for a different look.

Finally today, Leslie Lightfoot has included all the best shades of fall in one fabulous card! I love her “peeking tag” pocket design. Leslie says, “I really loved this subdued color scheme with the punch of orange mixed in. Fall colors in general are my favorites to work with, both in my home, in my wardrobe, and in my stamping. With such a variety of Hero Arts notecards I was able to quickly pull together the colors I wanted to use and accessorized with some pretty cream Art Flowers and silver Metallic Decor.”

Supplies:

• Antique Flower Background
• Clear Design: Season Of Giving
• Fall Mixed Notecards
• Art Flowers White and Cream
• Memories ArtPrint Brown Ink
• Silver Metallic Decor

A Tip from Leslie: “When working with a variety of colors, I like to keep the brightest color (in this case, the pumpkin orange) to add punch and pizazz to my card. I used very little of it (just the scallop border and the heart accents) but it really makes the card pop in all the right places.”

Thanks for stopping by today! Even if it doesn’t quite feel like Fall where you live, I hope these color schemes have inspired you to create! Jennifer will be here tomorrow with the winners from “Man Week” and we’ll also announce the winners of yesterday’s giveaway — just click HERE to enter if you haven’t already.

Enjoy your day!

P.S. - Don’t miss the post just below this one — it’s a  brand new contest!