What an inspiring array of cards and projects to choose from this past week for our birthday challenge. Thank you to all who participated - you all did some great work and it was a true pleasure looking through the vast collection! It was really hard narrowing down some favorites and I recruited the assistance of some other Hero staff to help me out. So… with no further ado - here are our winners!

This week’s Fresh Face winner is maylee q. Her birthday card was so cute and the cupcake idea really was a fun touch. Congrats to you!

Our Scrapbooking prize goes to this talented girl: sarahjane4kids. Great way to fit lots of photos onto your page and I absolutely adore your scallop border!

Congratulations to our First Prize winner: ishouldbesleepingbut. This card is so sweet I could eat it up. I love the colors and the balloons held by the elephant is just adorable.

Second Prize goes to Susanne Nilsson for an adorable card with four pull-out tags incorporated into it. Great job Susanne!

The Third Prize winner is newkidfish for this stunningly handsome card. It is really striking!

Kudos to our talented Honorable Mentions as well. You all outdid yourselves!

First, check out this fun card from debstamps. I love how she personalized it with the recipient’s name here within the ‘birthday song’.

Next we had to give props to scrapperjjb for this show-stopping birthday card, complete with cake and candles. I really like how the greeting is worked into the stamped image in between the candles.

Our last (but certainly not least) honorable mention is countryheartandhome for this playful card featuring some really cute zoo animals, courtesy of one of the very cutest of our Hero Arts stamp sets.

And… one last thing. This project knocked all our socks off and we felt she deserved a special bonus prize for such creativity and hard work. Way to go Paper Girl… I want to go to your next party! You’ve won two clear stamp sets of your choice!!!

Awesome job everyone! Winners and honorable mentions, please email us at the address in the blog sidebar with “Birthday Week” in the subject line and include your postal address. Thank you and don’t forget to enter this week’s challenge for more chances to win!

We did a random draw for Friday’s giveaway and the lucky recipient of this terrific stamp set is:

#213 - Jodi said: “I just finished icing my daughter’s cake for her 2nd bday celebration tonight. What a fun week to have a birthday theme!” (February 6th, 2009 at 5:56 pm)

Congratulations Jodi and enjoy! Please contact us through the email in the right column so we can get your stamp set off to you in the mail right away.

Thanks again everyone who participated in this week’s blog. It was fun!

What a fun week it has been. Here is an overview of our birthday week here at Hero Arts.

• Monday: Kids birthday ideas including a whimsical night owl card and a handmade birthday hat.
• Tuesday: Big birthday inspiration for all ages.  Two more birthday cards - one feminine and one masculine.
• Wednesday: Cupcakes everywhere…are you hungry yet? Two projects based around cupcakes - one card and a project (with video) for cupcake toppers. Delicious!
• Friday: Colorful celebration cards. One scrapbook page and two festive birthday cards.

Thanks for spending the week with us! Thanks also to all the designers who helped to inspire us this week: Tami, Shari, Jennifer, Kandis and Robyn.

Don’t forget that the challenge will be open until tomorrow (Sunday) at 11:59pm PST. All of the challenge details are at the end of Monday’s post HERE.

…And you have ’til tonight (Saturday) at 11:59pm PST to enter our giveaway for a fabulous birthday stamp set. Check out the details HERE!

Let’s have some fun and keep this birthday bonanza rolling. TGIF and the Friday festivities start now! We have 3 more projects to keep your birthday inspiration popping and another sweet giveaway to say thanks for a fun week! So… let’s get started.

Check out this adorable birthday card Kandis Smith baked up for us! I love how it sparkles and shines thanks to her embellishing her notecard with gemstones and adding Stickles ‘glitz’ to the lit birthday candles. I especially love the unique combination of colors she used. They make for a very festive look that is bound to bring a smile to any age. Kandis says: “I’m always looking for a way to make a bunch of birthday cards easily. When you repeat the same stamp over and over, it makes it easy to create multiple cards at a time! Just add a little ribbon and glitter and you’re done!”

Card by Kandis Smith
Supplies:

• ClearDesign: Celebrate All Day
• Spring Mixed Gemstones
• Pale Pink Accent Pearls
• Card Buttons Spring
• Summer Mixed Notecards
• Lemon Notecards
• Blush Notecards
• Tim Holtz: Peeled Paint Distress Dye Ink Pad
• Memories Ink Pad - Black

If you scrapbook then you are probably a lot like me and every other scrapbooker - you have a pile of birthday photos waiting to make it onto a page, but no motivation to do those birthday event pages. It takes me a long time to get my act together and document my children’s birthday parties. Usually it is because I have so many photos I want to include and am not sure where to start. For this layout I solved that problem by creating a collage of photos before I had them printed. They are all on one sheet of photo paper and document perfectly an overview of my daughter’s 4th birthday party. I wanted to emphasize that she was turning 4 so I drew a large 4 (or you can print one from the computer) and cut it out. I stamped it with flowers before adding it to the page. The bright variety of colors I used keeps the page young and fun!

Layout by Leslie Lightfoot
Supplies:

• Misty Swirl Pattern
• DesignBlock: Scattered Flowers
• Clear Design: Thoughtful Messages
• Summer Felt Flowers
• Card Buttons Summer
• Pool Notecards
• Other: Patterned paper, Needle & thread for buttons, Scallop border punch

Shari Carroll created this card for her one year old niece. By mixing images and an adorable letter set, she was able to personalize her card for the special occasion. I love the white background - it really lets the stamped candle and details shine!

Card by Shari Carroll
Supplies:

• Birthday Candles
• Curly Alphabet
• Cute Letters
• Blush Notecards
• White Notecards
• Black Dye ink
• Smooth Clear Gemstones
• Diamond Stickles by Ranger
• Other: Scraps of cardstock, circle punches (1/2” and 3/4”), color pencils

Finally, let’s celebrate Friday with another Hero Arts giveaway. To keep you inspired to create more birthday cards we are giving away this terrific BIG stamp set to one lucky person. Just leave a comment here on this blog post before Saturday, February 7th at 11:59pm PST and we’ll enter you into the random draw. Good luck to everyone!

If you haven’t already, you still have time to enter this week’s birthday challenge. Go here to see all the details - you have until Sunday, February 8th at 11:59 pm PST.  Can not wait to see all your wonderful cards and projects! We will post the winners on the Thursday of next week.

…or should we say ‘a piece of cupcake’! Today we bring you two very tasty birthday projects that will appeal to the taste buds in all of us, and who doesn’t like a sweet, tasty treat on their birthday?

I made a card that will certainly appeal to a girl of any age. It’s pink and flowery and it has something all girls like - cupcakes with pink fluffy icing. I created this greeting by first stamping the background notecard with our new Scallop Flourish and then I built on to the card with details like the circle greeting, pearl accents and these to-die-for scrumptious cupcakes. I stamped the cupcakes onto white cardstock and used my colored pencils to add the colors I wanted. Extra embellishing like the heart gems and the glitter puff paint ’specks’ on the icing make the cupcakes come alive. I overlapped three of the cupcake stamped images to make a big statement.

Card by Leslie Lightfoot
Supplies:

• Scallop Flourish
• ClearDesign: Cupcakes
• Assorted Clear Circles
• Small Greetings Stencil Prints
• Sparkle Gems Hearts
• Pink Accent Pearls
• Colorbox Chalk Queue - Rose Petals
• Blush Notecards with Envelopes
• Other: Patterned paper, Colored Pencils, Glitter puff paint

Next… it wouldn’t be Watch it Wednesday without a great and informative video to get your creative juices flowing. Jennifer McGuire fashioned these amazing cupcake decorations from her Hero Arts stamps. They are wonderful and the stars and colors she chose would work wonderfully for so many different age groups!  Be sure to watch her video for great tips and instructions on making these cupcake toppers.

Project by Jennifer McGuire
Supplies:

• Galaxy of Stars
• Colorbox Chalk Queue - Primary Elements
• Clear Design: Simple and Basic Alphabet
• Memories Ink Pad - Black
• ClearDesign: Celebrate All Day
• Orange Gemstones

Don’t forget that you have until Sunday, Feb. 8th at 11:59pm PST to post your birthday themed cards for the contest to our flickr group. See all the details here.

Welcome to another day of birthday themed projects to inspire you. Today we are showing you two cards we specifically made with adult recipients in mind. I aimed for a feminine touch with my example and Tami tackled a mature manly card for the special men in your circle of family and friends.

The wonderful thing I find about birthday cards is that they can actually be quite generic in theme, such as my card here. A simple birthday message stamped at the bottom turned an otherwise all-occasion card into a special birthday wish to a close friend of mine who is about to celebrate turning 37! I absolutely love all of Hero Arts new embellishments, especially these Vintage Collage art flowers and felt buttons… they really do add a beautiful touch to any feminine project! Instead of sewing the felt button in place I covered the holes with Hero Arts new colored accent pearls - a quick alternative to stitching down a button like this. For the leaf background paper I wanted a ‘weathered’ look and so I smudged 2 different pinks together on the stamp before stamping on to light pink cardstock. I also used the pink chalk queue cat eye shaped ink pad to swipe the leaves for a rustic look.

Card by Leslie Lightfoot
Supplies:

• ClearDesign: All Occasion Messages
• Artistic Impressions: Three Designer Leaves
• Special Edition: Artistic Windows
• DesignBlock Reverse Leaf Pattern
• Pink Accent Pearls
• Pale Pink Accent Pearls
• Art Flowers Vintage Collage
• Blush Notecards with Envelopes
• Garden Notecards with Envelopes
• Colorbox Chalk Queue - Rose Petals
• Memories Ink Pad - ArtPrint Brown
• Other: Scallop border punch, patterned paper

Check out this handsome birthday card by Tami Hartley. I love how she combined all neutral colored materials yet the card still has ‘pop’ thanks to the layered script and fern images. She embellished her card beautifully with some twine and buttons. Tami says: “I often struggle with masculine birthday card designs, and I’ve heard many fellow stampers say the same thing. I’m not sure why this is…but I find it helps if I keep these things in mind when creating “man cards” — clean, classic, and natural. I absolutely love the new Three Ferns image so I used it on this card for my brother-in-law. The fern is stamped and clear embossed over the top of the script layer. The result is a sort of “clean collage” look.”  I think any man would be very happy with this birthday greeting.

Card by Tami Hartley
Supplies:

• Three Ferns
• Special Edition: Artistic Windows
• Birthday Frame and Messages (sentiment)
• Memories Ink Pad - ArtPrint Brown
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tea Dye
• VersaMark Dazzle Champagne
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Neutral Mixed Notecards
• Neutral Card Buttons
• Other: jute, machine stitching, pop dots

Also, don’t forget about a fun giveaway we have going on until tonight at 11:59pm PST… see details at the bottom of this post (add link). Win some great prizes by posting here. See you tomorrow for a terrific video and some more birthday inspiration!

Hi, everyone and welcome to another great week at the Hero Arts blog. Our focus this week is going to be on something we all have a lot of experience in… like it or not, we all know a lot about BIRTHDAYS!

I think this is the perfect time to start thinking about building up your supply of birthday greetings for the rest of 2009. You can never have too many birthday cards on hand for when another birthday celebration sneaks up on you - you’ll never feel unprepared!

This week we are going to share a variety of birthday theme ideas to get your creative juices flowing and have you set to create a multitude of unique cards for that next someone special’s birthday.

Today I want to share ideas on making birthday cards and decorations for the wonderful children in our lives. Whenever I make a card with a child in mind I like to create something whimsical, colorful and imaginative in design. I find the children that receive homemade cards on their special day really appreciate them. They get excited by the little details like gemstones, glitter or 3D elements and so I try and add little things like this to capture the child’s attention.

Here is a fun little card I created for a birthday party my daughter is attending this coming weekend. I created a playful design by cutting a wooden branch for the owl’s perch and used a circle cutter to create a “moon” backdrop for the owl. The gem stars and 3D cloud and leaves give the card a little extra “pop.” I stamped Happy Birthday along the bottom to finish.

Card by Leslie Lightfoot.
Supplies:

• Special Edition Artistic Windows (wood grain for tree limb)
• Artistic Impressions: Three Designer Leaves (for leaves)
• Clear Design Asian Elements (owl)
• Houndstooth Background
• Scallop Flourish
• Clear Mixed Gemstones
• Memories Art Print Brown Ink
• Sunshine Notecards with Envelopes
• Other: Circle cutter, Colored Pencils

Next up is the supremely talented Robyn Werlich, who just celebrated her son’s 1st birthday… what a big milestone! Robyn wanted to create a special something for his birthday cake celebration and came up with this amazingly wonderful birthday hat. Is it not something else?! You can create one of these too and customize it to a boy or girl. Robyn added special touches to the hat like the ribbons at the top and an elastic chin strap to keep the hat in place.

Hat by Robyn Werlich.
Supplies:

• Reach for the Stars
• Raindrop Background
• Houndstooth Background
• Four Leaf Grid
• Memories White Ink
• Memories Art Print Brown Ink
• Pumpkin Patch ColorBox Chalk Queue
• Assorted Crystal Gemstones
• Other: cardstock, brown marker, pop-dots, ribbon, sewing machine

To create the hat, Robyn punched various size circles from different colors of cardstock and stamped with Hero Arts background stamps. She outlined each circle with a brown marker and glued to the cardstock for the hat. The number and cupcake were added along with gemstones and ribbon on the top. An elastic (taped on the inside to hold in place) keeps it on the child’s head.  Great job, Robyn!

For this week’s challenge we would like you to create a show-stopping birthday themed card, project or scrapbook layout. Be creative and be sure to include at least one Hero Arts stamp on each of your projects. Then, upload your crafty creations to the Hero Arts Flickr group by 11:59pm PST on Sunday, February 8th. Please include the tag “birthdayweek” (with no space between the words “birthday” and “week”) on your submissions.

• Fresh Face Winner (someone who has not yet won a contest): $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• Scrapbook Page Winner: $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• 1st Place: $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• 2nd Place: $25 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• 3rd Place: $15 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog

Oh, and if you are looking for more birthday inspiration, be sure to check out the Birthday week we did here on the blog back in the fall.  (Click here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.)  It was a huge success, so we are back doing more!

To start our week off in a festive way, let’s have a little giveaway! Here’s your chance to win a great prize that includes our Clear Design Birthday Frames and Messages set, along with a package of Garden Notecards with Envelopes and some pretty Pink Accent Pearls. Please post a comment here by Tuesday, February 3rd at 11:59pm PST. Tell me about your favorite birthday cake flavor! I think mine is a Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake! What is yours?

Looking forward to a birthday filled week with you all. Come back tomorrow to see more inspiring designs that celebrate birthdays in beautiful ways.