What happens when you challenge talented stampers from around the world to use their favorite Hero Arts stamps for one whole week?  This is what happens!  Wow — wonderful work everyone!  It was so much fun to see your new AND old favorites and neat to see them combined too. This was an especially difficult decision and we want to thank each of you for creating and submitting.  Here we go now with this week’s picks…

First up is our Fresh Face winner — kudos to dancingpeardesigns!  Her layered masterpiece left us in awe.  Check out the amazing dimension on this card…

Next, the Scrapbooking prize goes to brenda carpenter, who created a gorgeous Halloween layout featuring the Heart Winged Butterfly stamp.  This stamp was a favorite mentioned by many, and we just love the way she used it here — perfect for those precious photos!

This next card stopped us in our tracks with it’s simple elegance and coloring.  Big congrats to Jenyfur for taking the 1st Place prize this week!

Next, 2nd Place honors go to scrapperjjb for this delightful card featuring a bird blowing out birthday candles — so cute and clever!  The details on Jenn’s cards are always amazing…

And coming in 3rd Place this week is Chris Millar with her sweet “smooch” layout.  We love how she used the Flourish Border stamps to create a rainbow of patterned papers.  The colorblocked design is fantastic…

Great job, everyone!  Here are more wonderful creations we’d like to award with Honorable Mentions.

Lucy, England came up with TWO absolutely adorable baby card designs.  One for a boy…

And one for a girl…how sweet!

Next, check out this great layout from silvakelly54 and look closely — she made a butterfly using her favorite Hero Arts paisley stamp.  Love that kind of out-of-the-box stamping!

Last but not least, anette.hjerpaasen created a beautiful “hello” card. She was so creative with the Slanted Tree stamp and cut out just the branches and truck.  What a great look!

Congratulations, winners and honorable mentions!  Please email us at the address in blog sidebar with your name, address, and corresponding prize.  Thanks!

Thanks again to everyone for your inspiring contributions to “favorites” week!

See you next time,

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Since it’s a special day we thought we’d leave you with a few more sweet treats before wrapping up the week.  Tami created this set of Valentine cards with tradition and simplicity in mind…

And to tie these cards in with our theme of favorites, she used one of her favorite alphabet stamp sets…the Small Variety Alphabet to stamp the “x” & “o” strip as well as the words “i” and “you”.  This versatile little set has seen a lot of LOVE!

Cards by Tami Hartley
Supplies:

• Raindrop Background
• Heart Flourish
• Clear Design: Small Variety Alphabet
• Be My Valentine Message
• Clear Design: Many Hearts (small flourish)
• Memories Black Ink
• Soft Blossom Shadow Ink (tone on tone on red cards)
• Crimson, White & Licorice Notecards
• Prisma Glitter & Fine Point Glue Pen
• Assorted Clear Circles
• Clear Buttons
  
• Red & Clear Gemstones
  
• Other: heart die (Cuttlebug), Swiss Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug), ribbon, string, paper piercer, pop dots
  

We had so much fun “playing favorites” here this week!  Here’s a little journey back through the past few days…

Daily links:

• Monday:  favorites of Jennifer, Tami, Ali Edwards, Tim Holtz and Donna Downey
• Tuesday:  favorites of Shari, Sally and the Web Artists
• Wednesday:  favorites of Hero Arts VIPs Aaron, Jackie and Todd
• Friday:  favorites of Lisa and Nancy

Thanks so much for joining us this week.  We hope you have a chance to play with your most loved stamps this weekend!

Happy hearts day! ♥

Happy Friday!

First of all, we wanted to let you know again that we’ve added everyone’s favorite stamps to the store.  Click on over HERE to start shopping!  

Today we have two more great Hero Arts artists sharing their favorite products from the 2009 catalog.

First up with have the talented Lisa Spangler.  When we asked her about her favorites, we knew what she would pick: Four Dolls, Flower Wood Background and Houndstooth Background.  These are Lisa’s trademark stamps - and she uses them so well!

Here is is the most adorable card ever using these stamps…

Card by Lisa Spangler
Supplies:

• Four Dolls
• Flower Wood Background
  
• Houndstooth Background
  
• Sparkle Clear: Arigato
  
• Chalk Ink Queue - Primary Elements
  
• Pink & Green Apple Notecards
  
• Smooth Clear Gemstones
  
• Other: ribbon (Bazzill), scallop Nestabilities (largest one), circle Nestabilities (second to largest in the Large Circles set), Swiss Dots Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)

Tami loved these stamps so much that she couldn’t wait to play!  Here is her colorful creation…

Card by Tami Hartley
Supplies:

• Four Dolls
• Flower Wood Background
  
• Houndstooth Background
• Sparkle Clear: Mini Messages
  
• Licorice, Lagoon, Peony & Key Lime Notecards
• Memories Black Ink
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Assorted Crystal Gemtsones
• Summer Art Flowers
• Other: white pen (for flower details), chalk (for cheeks), pop dots

Next we have Nancy Taylor.  Nancy’s favorites are the Make A Wish Messages and Felt Flowers.

Nancy is so creative with the details on cards. That is one (of the many!) things we love about her.  Check out what she did with Hero’s self-adhesive felt flowers - she back them with patterned paper so it would peek through the holes in the petals.  Genius!

Card by Nancy Taylor
Supplies:

• Houndstooth Background
• Make A Wish Messages
• Summer Notecards
• Spring Felt Flowers
• Sparkle Gems Blossoms
• Art Flowers Spring
• Art Flowers White and Cream
• Lavender Gemstones
• Black StazOn Ink Pad
• Other: assorted colors of cardstock, scissors, paper trimmer, glue dots, lavender marker (to trace letters)
  

Jennifer felt very inspired by Nancy’s creation.  Here is what she came up with using Nancy’s favorite Hero Arts products… along with a sneak peek at a new stamp!

Card by Jennifer McGuire
Supplies:

• Make A Wish Messages
• Raindrop Background
  
• Houndstooth Background
• COMING SOON: CL332 Friendship 6×8 Clear Set (Owl)
• Soft Leaf Shadow Ink
  
• Soft Pool Shadow Ink
  
• Memories Black Ink
• Midnight Black Pearls
  
• Spring Felt Flowers
  
• Smooth Clear Gemstones
  
• Hero Arts Notecards 
• Other: patterned paper (yellow - Heidi Swapp, blue - Heidi Grace, brown - Scenic Route), string, white Sharpie pen (to add white to black pearl eyes)

And…about that sneak peek!  We won’t have to “sneak” much longer - the new “What’s Cooking” catalog supplement will be revealed on the Hero Arts website on Monday, February 16.  We are so excited to unveil these fun new additions and can’t wait for you all to see!

What a WONDERFUL week we have had with you!  Be sure to enter the “favorites challenge” by Sunday night - we have big prizes to give away and it is so easy and fun!  Click HERE for more details.

Happy weekend and happy stamping…

It’s time to announce the winner of Monday’s giveaway!  The Thank You Flourishes stamp set and collage flowers will soon be traveling to…

#448 - Kellie Scully: “Hero Arts Stamps are starting to overflow my scrapping desk!!! The Raindrop background stamp in my very favorite!! I reach for it constantly!!!”

Congratulations Kellie!  We will email you for your address.

Have a great day and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for more fun favorites!

Welcome back to our week of “favorite stamps!”

Today we want to share the favorite stamps of some important folks here at Hero Arts.  We thought it would be fun to see what they liked and then to create cards using those stamps.  AND… we have a video!

[Enabling Update: Today's featured stamps, as well as ALL of the week's favorites, are now available in the Hero Arts Online Store right HERE!]

First up, we have Aaron Leventhal, the CEO (and all-around good guy) of Hero Arts. Here is what he says about his favorite stamps:

“Over the years, my favorite stamps often gravitate towards the ‘combined art’ images or collage style.  The idea of combining type, graphic art, illustrations and/or patterns always makes the most interesting designs in my opinion.  This catalog is no different.  From 2009, I love the large shadow, swirl and collage designs, such as  Misty Swirl Pattern, Woodgrain Pattern, and Old Writing and Flower Collage.  For completely different reasons, I have a special affinity for the Asian-influenced images on pages 22-23 of the 2009 Catalog.  They evoke a certain emotion in me that combines both creative inspiration and daydreaming of travel and faraway places.”

Jennifer decided to use Aaron’s favorite stamps to create a scrapbook page and video.  The video talks about the different kinds of inks we love, along with tips for stamping with large stamps.

Page by Jennifer McGuire
Supplies:

• Misty Swirl Pattern
• Woodgrain Pattern
• Old Writing and Flower Collage
• Clear Design: Simple and Basic Alphabet
  
• Clear Design: Travel Frames
  
• DesignBlock: Bold Flourish
  
• Soft Sand Shadow Ink (background)
• Tim Holtz Broken China Distress Ink (blue piece)
• Colorbox Chalk Ink Queue Pumpkin Patch (green piece)
• Colorbox Chalk Ink Queue Chocolates and Blueberries (brown)
• Memories ArtPrint Brown Ink (title and journal block)
  
• Pearls and Felt Buttons
  
• Other: Patterned paper (Scenic Route - brown and BasicGrey - blue and green), border punch (Fiskars), shell buttons, string and sewing machine

Next up is Jackie Leventhal, Founder and Creative Director for Hero Arts.  Here is what Jackie has to say about her favorites…

“I love the ‘creating and drawing’ part of making stamps to enhance peoples creativity.  There is nothing more fun than coming up with a great idea and then seeing what stampers do with it.  Therefore, I am somewhat biased to hand-drawn stamps… although we do create great ones with the help of the computer.  My grandson Ethan - who is almost 8 - gave me the idea for the Four Stylish Owls.  He and his buddies all like Ugly Dolls.  I thought it might apply to our ever-popular owls.  We played around with some  and came up with this set. I also like the All Occasion Messages because, although the messages are fairly common, the technique of mixing them together seems really fresh.”

Tami used the “friends forever” sentiment from the All Occasion Messages set and paired it with two owl pals for a sweet friendship card…

Card by Tami Hartley
Supplies:

• Four Stylish Owls
• Clear Design: All Occasion Messages
• Blush Notecards (Taffy)
• Memories ArtPrint Brown Ink
• Watercolor Wheel
• Spring Card Buttons
• Gemstones
• Other: patterned paper (Colorbok - green grid and Bo Bunny - pink dots), ribbon, machine stitching, pop dots

Last but not least, we have Todd Mullins, the VP of Marketing and Sales (and resident funny man) for Hero Arts.

“After visiting England last year and touring the Crown Jewels collection at the Tower of London, I’ve been taken by the history and majesty of British Royalty. Throughout the year I began noticing crowns as an accent design on many things - from stationery to pillows. I have been quite taken by our collection of crown motif stamps on pages 64-65 of the 2009 catalog. Each one is wonderful in its own way.  Crown Collage is dramatically detailed combining vintage styling with collage accenting. Yet, the card sample on page 64 is stunningly simple using just one color with pearl accenting. You don’t need to be a Queen (or King) of Cardmaking to make this elegant card.”

And here is a card by Jennifer using a crown stamp - what a great way to add some fun to a photo!

Card by Jennifer McGuire
Supplies:

• Swirl Crown
• Clear Design: Card Messages
• Sparkle Clear Cute Letter Alphabet
  
• Colorbox Chalk Ink Queue Primary Elements
• Black Memories Ink
  
• Hero Arts Notecards
• Assorted Crystal Gemstones
• Other: Color pencils
  

We hope today’s quotes and cards inspire you.  Thanks once again for stopping by!

Welcome to the second day of our favorite stamps week.  Before we get started, we have received many questions about if we are going to sell our favorites in our online store.  We will be… come back Wednesday to see!

Today we have the favorites from Shari Carroll, Sally Traidman and the Hero Arts Web Artists.  Here we go…

First up we have Shari Carroll.  Shari’s favorite stamps are the Heart Flourish, Artistic Windows and Heart Winged Butterfly.

Shari created a wonderful card with these stamps…

Card By Shari Carroll
Supplies:

• Heart Winged Butterfly
• Heart Flourish
• Artistic Windows
• Pool & White Notecards
• Soft Sand Ink
• Chocolates and Blueberries Chalk Ink Queue
• Other: Basic Grey Paper (”Offbeat” and “Archaic”), string, 3/4″ circle punch, brown color pencil and sewing machine

Tami played along with this fun stamp combination and some yummy colors…

Card by Tami Hartley
Supplies:

• Heart Winged Butterfly
• Heart Flourish
• Artistic Windows
• Clear Design: Great Flourishes Messages
• Pool & White Notecards
• Soft Pool Shadow Ink
• Sand Dune Chalk Ink Queue
• Frosted Lace Stickles
• Accent Pearls
• Other: ribbon (American Crafts), corner rounder punch, machine stitching, pop dots

Next we have Sally Traidman.  Sally’s favorite stamps are the Artistic Borders, Card Messages and Houndstooth Background.

And Sally created TWO great cards with these favorites.  We love that they are so different and so delightful!  (Click on them for a closer look.)

Cards by Sally Traidman
Supplies:

• Artistic Borders
  
• Card Messages
• Houndstooth Background
• Various Hero Arts Notecards
• Black Memories Ink
• Soft Green Shadow Ink
• Summer Card Buttons
  
• Gemstones
  
• Other: colored pencils

Jennifer was inspired by Sally’s stamp picks and colors to create this…

Card by Jennifer McGuire
Supplies:

• Artistic Borders
• Card Messages
• Houndstooth Background
• Black Memories Ink
• Soft Blossom, Soft Apricot, Soft Pool & Soft Green Shadow Inks
• Orange & Citron Gemstones
• Various Hero Arts Notecards

We thought it would be fun to share the favorites of the Hero Arts Web Artists, too!  Here they are…

I love that so many of the favorites overlap!  Here are the links to each stamp…

Leslie Lightfoot: DesignBlock: Wallpaper Background, Scallop Flourish and Clear Design: Scallop Borders

Laura Griffin: Raindrop Background, Four Stylish Owls and Clear Design: All Occasion Messages

Jacki Jones: Clear Design: Great Flourishes Messages, Clear Design: Artistic Borders and Clear Design: A Million Thanks

Sheri Reguly: Clear Design: Scallop Borders, DesignBlock: Scattered Flowers and Four Stylish Owls

Barbara Hache: Clear Design: Four Dolls, What a Hoot and Houndstooth Background

Robyn Werlich:  Woodgrain Circle, Houndstooth Background and Clear Design: All Occasion Messages

Kandis Smith: Clear Design: Scallop Borders, Clear Design: Galaxy of Stars and Clear Design: Scattered Leaves

We hope that sharing our favorites with you inspires you to create and have some stamping fun!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for a video, some very special favorites and much more.

Happy stamping…

Welcome to another fun week here on the Hero Arts Blog!  We have so much excitement planned that we decided to have two hosts for the week - Jennifer and Tami!  Let’s get started…

Awhile back, we got an email from Enid Sanstad suggesting that the Hero artists tell their favorite stamps.  And, thanks to her, we decided to do a whole week focused on just that - favorite stamps.  Each day, we will share ideas from various folks using their favorites.  Let’s get started!  (Oh, and thank you for the suggestion, Enid!)

First, here are the stamps that we came up with as our favorites: Patterned Hearts, Clear Design: All Occasion Messages, Clear Design: Thank You Flourishes and the Raindrop Background.

Now it is time to play with these great stamps.  First up is a card by Tami using all four of our favorites…

Card by Tami Hartley
Supplies:

• Patterned Hearts
• Clear Design: All Occasion Messages
• Clear Design: Thank You Flourishes
• Raindrop Background
• Blush, Sunshine & White Notecards
• Memories Ruby Ink
• Soft Apricot Shadow Ink
• VersaMark
• White Embossing Powder
• Spring & Summer Card Buttons
• Spring & Summer Art Flowers
• Accent Pearls
• other: string, pop dots

Next up is a card by Jennifer using the same favorites…

Card by Jennifer McGuire
Supplies:

• Patterned Hearts
• Clear Design: All Occasion Messages
• Clear Design: Thank You Flourishes
• Raindrop Background
• Kraft, Blush & Chocolate Notecards
  
• ArtPrint Brown Memories Ink
• Soft Blossom Shadow Ink
  
• VersaMark
• White & Clear Embossing Powder
  
• Art Flowers White and Cream
• Accent Pearls
• other: string, pop dots, EK Success decorative border punch and corner rounder

And since these stamps work so well for scrapbooking, how about a page by Jennifer?

Layout by Jennifer McGuire
Supplies:

• Patterned Hearts
• Clear Design: All Occasion Messages
• Clear Design: Thank You Flourishes
• Raindrop Background
• Clear Design: Scallop Borders
• Clear Design: Simple and Basic Alphabet
  
• Memories Ruby Ink
• VersaMark
• White & Clear Embossing Powder
  
• Midnight Black Accent Pearls
  
• other: stripe patterned paper (My Mind’s Eye), dot patterned paper (Bo Bunny), sewing machine, cardstock

Since we are talking about “favorites,” we decided to ask three of our favorite artists - Tim Holtz, Ali Edwards and Donna Downey - about what they love most in the 2009 Hero Arts Catalog.

Hero Arts’ friend Tim Holtz says he loves our new Collage Art Flowers - both the Vintage Collage and the Pastel Collage. They work great with any collage project.

Ali Edwards says, “For me, many of my favorite things become favorites because they feature the simplest designs. I love the Raindrop Background stamp because it is completely versatile. It can be used on so many different projects as a background, to add texture, or just add a bit of color.”

Artist Donna Downey was quick to say which stamp she adored - the Long Branch. In fact, she created an amazing canvas project using this stamp a lot - click HERE to see it.  (And rumor has it she will be giving a few of these stamps away later this week on her blog HERE!)

Thanks to these artists for sharing their favorite Hero Arts stamps!

Let’s move onto our challenge for this week: simply create a card, project or scrapbook page using YOUR favorite Hero Arts product(s)!  Load it up to the Hero Arts Flickr group by 11:59pm PST on Sunday, February 15th. Please include the tag “favorites” 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

And to start the week off with a bang, let’s give away a few of today’s favorites!  Just leave a comment on this post by Wednesday at 11:59pmPST telling us what YOUR favorite Hero Arts stamp is and we will pick a winner of these goodies…

Have a great week…