There were so many fabulous entries for the Bird Challenge that the panel of judges had a really hard time choosing the winners. Finally, after much thought, each judge narrowed down her selection to just ten entries. All the selections were then put in a hat, and the winners were drawn at random.

And…

the winners are…

…insert drumroll….

Third place goes to jen ink, for her Thank You Bird Collage!

Second place goes to Megan Renfree for her fun “Whoo hoo!” card

And….

Finally…

First place goes to Lisa C for her “You hoo!” card!

Congratulations to the three of you!

(Please email to the address on the sidebar so we can get your prizes to you!)

Since there were so many great entries, we decided to pick three more from the hat to share with you!

Scrapperjjb is just starting to stamp, so she used a Christmas tag to create the scallops around the hole in her birdhouse!

The judges loved how quilterlin combined a photo with her bird!

And bodaquilts200’s Owls background wowed the judges, plus the google eyes are too cute!

(Please email to the address on the sidebar and Lisa will send you her favorite new bird stamp set!)

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Bird Challenge! You are ALL winners!

There’s still time to enter this week’s Envelope Challenge. You have until 11:59 PM on Sunday to submit your entry to the Hero Arts Flickr Group. Don’t forget to tag it with the code word “envelope” so that we can find it.

I needed a wedding card, so I decided to challenge myself to use all three of the weekly challenges we’ve had so far: stamping on clear elements, collage, and birds!

Supplies:

• CardArt Decorative Birds Kit
• Old French Writing
• Leaf Flourish
• Acetate Tags (from the Clear Fun Kit)
• Baby Blue, Chocolate Notecards
• Small Accent Pearls (from the Pearl Combo)
• StazOn Cotton White
• Misty Meadow Chalk Queue
• Memories ArtPrint Brown
• Other: Ribbon (American Crafts), glue dots

Instructions:

1. Stamp the front of a Baby Blue notecard with light blue chalk ink and the Leaf Flourish.
2. Stamp Old French Writing with ArtPrint Brown on Kraft and trim. Adhere to notecard. Add a Chocolate layer.
3. Stamp CardArt Decorative Birds with white StazOn an acetate tag. Rub the edges of the tag with white StazOn. Roll up little glue dots and put them under the two birds, then adhere the tag to the card front.
4. Punch a hole through the card across from the hole in the tag, then tie on ribbon.
5. Add Pearl Accents to flower centers.

You could take this design a step farther by using an alphabet set to stamp the bride + groom’s names on strips of cardstock and attaching them to the tag with twine — I plan to do this. Or stamp the CardArt Decorative birds on white cardstock with brown or blue ink and then cut out the birds and add them to the card with a pop dot. Up to you!

I have really enjoyed my time as the featured blogger — can’t wait to do it again. I’ve loved reading all of your comments, creating my very first video, and sharing my love of stamping with all of you, too.

Next week we have another fabulous featured blogger — not saying who she is — you’ll have to visit on Monday to see — but she will knock your socks off! Meanwhile, there’s still time to enter the Bird Challenge. Just submit your entry to the Hero Arts Flickr Group by Sunday at 11:59 PST and tag it with the code word “bird”. (See the FAQ for more.)

Have a great weekend!

It’s time for “Fun Fridays” — a day of the week when we share something fun!

This Friday we are incredibly honored to have Keisha Campbell as a guest artist. Keisha has always used Hero Arts stamps in such an amazing way… creating timeless scrapbook pages and cards. To see more of Keisha’s work — and for a Hero Arts drawing today only — visit her blog.

Supplies:

• Inspiring Messages Special Edition
• Ornate Bird
• Circle Script
• Deco Silhouette
• Other: Making Memories papers, flowers, ribbon, brads; Doodlebug paper frills; Heidi Grace straight pin

Instructions:

1. Cut ledger paper down to 8×12 then add to the center of green dot paper.
2. Stamp ledger paper with circle script stamp.
3. Add the scallop borders.
4. Stamp 2″ circles with the Ornate Bird. Stamp 1″ circles with Deco Silhouette stamp. Stamp quote onto 2″ circle.
5. Add stamped circles to page; stitch over bird circles.
6. Add photos & flowers.

I just love Keisha’s work! So fun and fresh. Thanks, Keisha!

I have one more thing to share with you today:

I had some questions on how I did the colored pencil work on the Sparkle Clear You Hoo Owl tag in the Spring Catalog so I thought I’d do a mini-tutorial. (Click on the image to view it larger.)

1. First, lightly color the wings with pink.
2. Next, lightly add some brown to the body and the left side of the head.
3. Finally, go over the lines near the outside edges of the wings and the inner body with the same pencils. Add details to feet, beak and eyes.

That’s it! Here are the pencils that I used — but you can do this with any good quality pencil: Prismacolor rose, sandbar brown, Spanish orange, apple green and chartreuse. Here’s another tip: use a blunt edge when coloring so that you don’t get lines.

Hope you are having fun playing with the Bird Challenge — there’s still time to enter, as the contest doesn’t end until Sunday at 11:59 PM PST. Don’t forget to tag your entry with the code word “bird“. (See the FAQ for more.) I’ve been looking at the entries, and wowzers, lots of good stuff!

Until tomorrow…

It’s Wednesday, and that means we have a video or step-by-step project to share with you. This week I’ll be showing you some simple masking techniques and tips on how to use clear alphabets with a SNEAK PEEK from our upcoming catalog of our NEW Sparkle Clear™ Little Letters!

Sparkle Clear Little Letters have 5 fonts in each set, plus fun images — including birds — 12 gemstones and a unique frame!

One thing I have to share before you watch the video — I’m told that I have a very unique accent. I grew up in northeast Ohio and moved to Texas 12 years ago — my friends and family in Ohio all claim that I have a Texas twang, while my Texas friends call me “The Yank”. Can’t win, ha ha!

Supplies:

• Sparkle Clear: H (CL197)
• Sparkle Clear: E (CL194)
• Sparkle Clear: L (CL201)
• Sparkle Clear: O (CL204)
• Sparkle Clear: D (CL193)
• Lagoon Notecards
• Assorted Crystal Gemstones
• Memories Black Ink
• Other: Scallop edge cardstock (Bazzill), twine

And now, for a very special contest: one lucky winner will receive ALL of the new Sparkle Clear Little Letters! To enter, add a comment to this blog post and share your ideas for using Little Letters. I will chose a random comment and announce the winner tomorrow, along with the winners of Shari’s Collage Challenge!

Sparkle Clear Little Letters will be arriving at Hero Arts Retailers starting May 1st.

Hope you enjoyed the video and the sneak peeks! Plus, don’t forget — you still have until Sunday at 11:59 PST to enter this week’s Bird Challenge!

It’s “Take Two Tuesdays”, and that means we have another take on our weekly challenge. I have some very special inspiration to share with you today from the one and only Godelieve Tijskens, AKA Stamping Mathilda, from Belgium! I’ve always admired her work, so I asked her if she would be a guest blogger and create a card featuring a Hero Arts bird stamp. Just look at this masterpiece that she came up with:

Supplies:

• Kraft Folded Notecards
• Acetate cards
• Clear Design Thoughtful Messages
• Decorative Birds
• Artistic Leaves
• Quotes Background
• Black Gemstones
• Chalk Ink-Rose Petals
• Other: Round punch, clear embossing powder, Versafine Onyx Black inkpad, Tim Holtz paper distresser, embroidery floss, wooden beads

Godelieve says:

“It was love at first sight for me with Hero Arts stamps. I have a quite big collection of them. I think Hero Arts stamps are great for beginning and advanced stampers, for quick and easy cards, but for all kind of techniques too.”

A quick how-to:

1. Color a white notecard with several rose petal chalk inks by rubbing the ink pads directly on the paper. Cut out a tag and distress the edges.
2. Stamp small flowers on the leftover strips, cut out.
3. Stamp quotes background and decorative leaves on the tag using the darkest chalk ink.
4. Stamp sentiment, artistic leaves and small flowers in black, heat emboss-stamp and heat emboss bird and flower, cut out.
5. Color a punched circle to use for a tag topper.
6. Mat the tag with white cardstock, assemble the card, use pop up dots at the bottom side of the tag.
7. Add black gemstones, embroidery floss and beads.

Visit Godelieve’s blog today for more details on how she created the background, PLUS a little contest: three lucky winners will receive the Decorative Birds set!

And now…

…insert drumroll…

a sneak peek of some new stamps from our upcoming catalog!

These are called Playful Prints, and they start shipping to Hero Arts retailers today. They are so fun, and well, playful!

The sets shown on the cards from left to right are:

• Bird Greetings Playful Prints (LP121)
• School Animals Playful Prints (LP120)
• Lily Pad Greetings Playful Prints (LP119)

Each Playful Print comes with fun images, messages, and a thought balloon. If you look closely, you’ll see another sneak peek — new Hero Arts Gemstones! (Click the image to view it larger.)

Want to be one of the first to own one of these new Playful Print sets? Just leave a comment on this post. We’ll draw three random winners, and each will receive a set.

Be sure to visit tomorrow to find out if you’ve won. Plus, we’ll have another sneak peek from the catalog and a video. Until then, hope you are having fun with the Bird Challenge!

Welcome back! Hope you had a great weekend stamping for Shari’s Collage Challenge. The winners will be announced on Thursday, so be sure to check back then to see who won.

In the meantime, it’s Monday — and that means a whole new weekly challenge begins. As Aaron and I were discussing what my focus for my the week should be, he said “No question, it’s gotta be birds!” I’m sort of known as The Bird Woman, ha ha! So, the challenge will be to create a stamped piece with a bird theme using at least one Hero Arts stamp.

Here’s a card to get the challenge started. I created it with our Project of the Month Set, the fun Clear Design Tree, Birds & Messages. Every month we feature a set and have four cards to give you bunches of ideas. Check out this month’s project cards here, or see the Project Gallery here for previous months.

Supplies:

• Clear Design Tree, Birds and Messages
• Kraft, Lemon, Chocolate and Green Apple notecards
• Small Accent Pearls
• Memories ArtPrint Brown and VersaColor Celadon
• Other: Polka dot paper (Making Memories), velvet ribbon (Maya Road), colored pencils (Prismacolor)

Some tips: The Tree, Birds & Messages set has a tiny flower that’s perfect for stamping over polka dots. I stamped the branch using celadon ink, and then went over it with colored pencils to add the detail.

Don’t have a bird stamp? No worries, you can still join in the challenge! We have a bird template for you. Download the PDF here, then trace it out and stamp away. Here’s a little fabric and felt bird that I created to give you some ideas:

Supplies:

• Artistic Impressions Branches
• Sparkle Clear Thank You Heart
• Medium Accent Pearls
• Memories ArtPrint Brown
• Other: White and dark brown felt, yellow fabric, embroidery floss, brown Sharpie marker

A quick how-to:

1. To create the wings, stamp a Branch twice with ArtPrint Brown on white felt. The trick here is to press evenly and hold the stamp on the felt for about 20 seconds or so that the ink has time to transfer. Set aside to dry. Note: Do not try to speed up the drying process with a heat tool — it melts the felt!
2. Trace bird body and wing on to an acetate notecard with a Sharpie. Cut out. It’s nice to use acetate for the template for better positioning. Cut out the body once from white felt, and twice from yellow fabric, cutting both of the fabric pieces out at the same time. (Fold fabric so that wrong sides are facing.) Make a sandwich with the fabric on the outside and the felt on the inside, then blanket stitch together with embroidery floss.
3. Cut legs out of brown felt and stitch on.
4. Color two Medium Accent Pearls with a brown Sharpie for eyes. Thanks to Tami for the inspiration for coloring the pearls with a Sharpie!
5. Now that the stamping on the felt should be dry, use the template to create the wings, then stitch them on the body. I just attached the bottom edge so that they could still “flap”.
6. Stamp the little “you make the world better” tag from the Sparkle Clear Thank You Heart set, and use a needle threaded with jute to attach the tag to a hanging loop for the bird.

And there you have it.

Hope you will join in the Bird Challenge — you have until 11:59 PST on Sunday, April 20th to submit your entries to the Hero Arts Flickr Group! Just use ANY Hero Arts stamp on your entry — yes, any Hero Arts stamp at all — to create a piece with a bird theme. Use the bird template or not — it’s all up to you. You’ll also need to tag your entry with the word “bird” so that we can find it. If you’ve already submitted a non-winning entry to another challenge and you’d like to submit it to this one as well, just tag it with “bird”. (See the FAQ for more on Flickr and how to tag your entry.) There will be three prizes given EACH week:

1st place: $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2008 catalog

2nd place: $25 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2008 catalog

3rd place: $10 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2008 catalog

Be sure to visit tomorrow for more bird inspiration plus a sneak peek from our next catalog! Until then, hope you have a tweet time stamping…