Wow. Wow. and WOW again!

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, you proved the versatility of hearts with your wonderfully creative submissions for last week’s Heartfelt Challenge!  Thank you all so much for playing along! I hope you know how much we enjoy seeing your creations each week.  Choosing the winners was one of the toughest decisions EVER!  The Web Artists chose their favorite projects, and from that pool we drew the winners.

Let’s start with the Bonus Prize for the most creative use of a heart stamp.  A fabulous assortment of Hero goodies will be going to oukelli1142 for her card featuring an umbrella made from a heart and a half!  I do believe this card is the very definition of clever — and each detail is just adorable!

Now for the week’s Fresh Face…congratulations to Huckleberry Honey!  She created this soft and delicate card with a touch of notepaper.  So pretty!

The Scrapbooking prize goes to TRace44 for her sweet “Blankie Love” layout.  Her mix of hearts, flowers, and flourishes for embellishments is just beautiful!

Winning First Place this week is Lucy, England!  Her thank you card design is such a sweet one, and we loved the idea of birds carrying hearts as an expression of gratitude.

Next up taking Second Place is 1scrappycat for her terrific card featuring birds with heart balloons.  The colors she combined here are gorgeous!

And Pia Overgaard is our Third Place winner!  She made a clever lily pad by stamping several small hearts together…brilliant!

We also have some terrific Honorable Mentions who will be receiving prizes as well!

First, crafterthoughts stepped out of the box and created this layered heart Christmas tree…amazing!

Check out this cute-as-can-be birthday card from meghan-solo!  We loved how she used the heart as a frame for the bunny to peek out of!

And finally, wteresa15 created an incredible little house gift basket that takes “home SWEET home” to a new level!  The shingles are heart punches that have been stamped with a woodgrain pattern stamp.  Such fantastic details!

Way to go!  Winners and honorable mentions, please email us at the address in the blog sidebar with “Heartfelt Winner” in the subject line and include your postal address. Thank you!

Great work this week everyone…thanks again for sharing your lovely heartfelt creations!

Have a great day!

Here’s a little journey back though our heart-filled week…

• Monday: An anniversary card and two sweet “thinking of you” cards.
• Tuesday: Four thank you cards using the sentiment “Thanks from the bottom of my heart.”
• Wednesday: Out-of-the box heart flowers, ladybugs, and a shamrock for good luck!
• Friday: A scrapbook page, an all-occasion card, and a “new home” card.

A great big thank you to the awesome Web Artists — Barbara, Jacki, Kandis, Laura, Leslie, Robyn & Sheri — for the ideas on how to get the most out of our heart images all year long.  Fabulous work, girls!

Just a reminder 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.

Thank you for visiting this week and for leaving such nice comments!

Take care and enjoy the weekend,

Happy Friday everyone!  Hard to believe it’s the last Friday of January!  Let’s close out this first month of 2009 with some more wonderful heartfelt creations from our team of Web Artists!

First, take a look at this precious baby boy scrapbook page from Kandis Smith.  She shows how heart images can be used to create great patterned backgrounds, as well as sweet embellishments.  I love her fresh mix of colors! Here’s Kandis to share more about the layout.  “Hearts don’t have to come in pink and red, here I mixed it up a little bit and used lime green, apricot, and a funky blue. This combo is perfect for a boy page, and allows me to get more mileage out of my heart stamps.”

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Scallop Borders
• Clear Design: So Sweet
• Clear Design: Many Hearts
• Clear Design: Hugs & Kisses Heart
• Clear Design: Hugs and Hearts
• Chocolates and Blueberries Chalk Ink Queue
• Soft Apricot Shadow Ink
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink Peeled Paint
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink Walnut Stain
• Other: patterned paper (Making Memories), cardstock (Coredinations), machine stitching, antique round brads

Instructions:

1. Cut a long rectangle from patterned paper and stamp scallop heart in apricot and key in blue all over. Add a small heart scattered in apricot. Adhere photo to left of layout and place stamped rectangle to right of photo. Add a small strip of orange patterned paper to right of stamped rectangle.
2. Machine stitch along edge of patterned papers. Cut photo corners from kraft paper and adhere to corners of stamped paper. Cut two small strips from yellow cardstock, adhere over and under picture. Stamp sentiment under photo on small strip.
3. Stamp scallops in apricot on white cardstock, cut out and adhere under yellow strip. Place a thin strip of patterned paper over top.
4. Stamp hearts in different colors on cardstock, cut out and adhere to page as shown. Tie linen string around large heart and adhere. Add to brads to top right corner of orange patterned paper.
5. Print out journaling on kraft paper, cut out and adhere to page.

Next up is the super talented Barbara Hache.  She has created a beautiful all-occasion card featuring a graceful heart stamp from the Clear Design Valentine Flourishes set.  Isn’t it gorgeous?! Barbara shares, “I am not always good about getting Birthday and Christmas cards in the mail (on time!) but I do love to send out everyday cards. I made this for my Aunt and Uncle whom I adore! It conveys more love than a traditional thinking of you card without being over the top mushy. I chose Spring colors and added a hint of brightness with the inks that I used. While this could certainly be used for a Valentine’s card, the colors are perfect for all occasions.”

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Valentine Flourishes
• Cream, Pink, Pool, Lemon, Baby Blue, Cantaloupe & Chocolate Notecards
• Primary Elements Chalk Ink Queue
• Black Memories Ink
• Other:  rectangle and scalloped rectangle dies (Nestabilities), pop dots

Barbara’s Tip:  Use contrasting ink on notecards to create your own patterned paper. Cut and join strips together for a fun look!

I have one final card to leave you with today.  This “new home” card was a lot of fun to make!  It uses three different heart images to illustrate the “home filled with love” sentiment — hearts on the house itself, coming out of the chimney, and in the trees.  To give it a cozy/homey feel, I included stitched details and a little strip of patterned paper that reminded me of a calico quilt print.  That small strip provided the color inspiration for the card.

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Hugs and Hearts (hearts on house)
• Clear Design: Whoo Loves You (trees)
• Clear Design: So Sweet (chimney hearts)
• Sparkle Clear Home
• Cream, Kraft & Chocolate Notecards
• Primary Elements Chalk Ink Queue
• Memories ArtPrint Brown Ink
• VersaMark Ink
• Other: patterned paper (Basic Grey’s Urban Prairie collection), cardstock, chalks, colored pencils, machine stitching, scallop edge scissors, jute, pop dots

Tami’s Tips:

• To make a fun repeating heart pattern (such as on the house)  alternate between right side up and upside down rows of hearts.
• Stamp the trees in the background with VersaMark ink and rub with chalks for a soft look that doesn’t detract from the house.
• Mount the sentiment strip on pop dots for added dimension.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you’ve enjoyed these projects and gained a little inspiration for your own stamping today.  Keep those entries coming for the challenge and have a wonderful weekend!!  I’ll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week.  Until then, happy stamping!

Are your stamps up for a little exercise today?  I hope so…because we’re going to show some fun ways to stretch them!  The Web Artists are here and they have some great out-of-the-box heart stamping ideas to share, plus a video! Let’s get started!

First, check out this adorable “good luck” card from Laura Griffin…so clever! Laura says, “Hearts are not just for Valentine’s Day anymore! You can use these versatile images to create entirely new shapes…even shamrocks! I designed this ‘good luck’ card for a co-worker who will be leaving our office soon. Technically, I think four-leaf clovers are the lucky kind, but who’s really counting?!  For variations, swap out the sentiment with a Happy St. Pattie’s Day one, or perhaps substitute a flower for the shamrock.”

What a great “stretch”!  Now, check out this video to learn how to make Laura’s card from start to finish. She also provides tips on creating dimension, using Distress Inks, and heat embossing…and shares where you can find some great vintage text paper like the kind used here.

Supplies:

• Four Stylish Owls
• Clear Design: So Sweet
• Chocolate & Garden Notecards
• Fresh Green VersaColor Ink Cube
• Chocolates & Blueberries Chalk Ink Queue
• White Embossing Powder
• VersaMark Inkpad
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink Old Paper
• Other: gingham ribbon, old book, word window punch (McGill)

Laura’s Tip: Trim around the wings of your owl with a craft knife to tuck something inside for it to hold.

Next, Jacki Jones has created a beautiful layered flower by using a heart from the So Sweet set. She even turned the heart and used the pointed end for leaves!  Jacki shares, ““We are in Atlanta and it’s been below average cold lately. When I’m cold, the last thing I want to do is make cards that remind me that it’s cold outside. Instead, I like to make warm spring floral cards. This really quick card with flowers and leaves made from hearts is destined to bring warmth to a place where the snow is bound to last a few more months.”

Supplies:

• Clear Design: So Sweet
• ClearDesign: All Occasion Messages
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink Peeled Paint
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink Shabby Shutters
• Memories Dahlia Dye Ink
• Kraft Notecards
• Medium Accent Pearls
• Neutral Art Flowers
• Other: patterned paper (Basic Grey’s Eva collection)

Jacki’s Tip: Building a flower from a heart is easy with a clear stamp because it’s easy to see where you want to position the image.

The talented Kandis Smith also used a heart image to stamp some gorgeous flowers for the front of her card.  Kandis says, “This is a quick way to create a background image for your cards. Using one stamp — repeat it side by side to create a large flower. Using this technique you could make many cards at one time, and it gives you another way to use your heart stamps!”

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Many Hearts
• Clear Design: Hugs and Hearts
• Sunshine & Garden Notecards
• Soft Apricot Shadow Ink
• Memories Artprint Brown Ink
• White Opal Liquid Pearls
• Other: patterned paper (Me and my Big Ideas), machine stitching, photo corners, linen string

Kandis’s Tips:

• Create smaller flowers by using smaller hearts — or use many different sizes to create unique flowers like pansies!
• Use Liquid Pearls or gems to make the flowers stand out!

Kandis has another card to share, and it’s just too cute for words…I’m speechless!  So here she is again to tell you about it: “I’ve always wanted to be one of those cute moms who put handwritten notes in their children’s lunch sack. It’s a great way to reconnect with your kids through the day. This is the perfect way for me, make a bunch ahead of time and have them stashed in my kitchen ready for a little note. And wouldn’t any kid love to get this in their lunch?”

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Hugs and Hearts
• Clear Design: Anytime Messages
• Memories Ruby Ink
• Memories Black Ink
• Crimson, Sunshine & Kraft Notecards
• Midnight Black Pearls
• Summer Art Flowers
• Other: patterned paper (Me and My Big Ideas), scallop punch (Fiskars), linen string, pen (Zig), machine stitching, photo corners

Kandis’s Tips:

• Turn your heart upside down to create different animals. The ladybug is always a fun one! Try heart centipedes too!
• Use black pearls for the spots — this will give it a more realistic feel and add a three dimensional element to your card.

Laura, Jacki, Kandis…thanks for the super creative examples today! I can’t wait to try them!

Hope you’re having fun with your “heartfelt” creations so far!  If you haven’t had time to play yet, don’t worry…you have until Sunday, Feb. 1 at 11:59pm PST to enter. (More details HERE!)  And remember…we’ll be awarding a special bonus prize this week for the most creative use of a heart stamp!

Happy heart stamping!

Welcome back to Heartfelt Cards Week with the Web Artists!  Today we’ll be getting even more mileage from our heart images by using them on a type of card we so often need — thank you cards.  It wasn’t planned, but today all four artists chose to use the sentiment “Thanks from the bottom of my heart” from the new Hugs and Hearts set.  Great minds think alike!

First, here’s the talented Laura Griffin to share a little about the gorgeous thank you she created.  “This sentiment from the Hugs and Hearts set makes a perfect ‘heartfelt thanks’ card for someone special all year long. I am a huge fan of the new extra long Hero notecards…who doesn’t love more stamping space? I used the light kraft version here and created a subtle background with a vine stamp and soft sand shadow ink. To add extra dimension, I used some foam dots, one of those great Hero art flowers, and a dimensional butterfly.”

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Scallop Borders
• Clear Design: Hugs and Hearts
• Light Kraft Long Notecards
• Colonial Blue Memories Ink
• Soft Sand Shadow Ink
• Rose Petals Chalk Ink Queue (Maroon)
• Art Flowers Meadow
• Other: blue cardstock, tan lace (Making Memories), antique brad, sewing machine, tan thread

Laura’s Tips:

• Align and stamp images side-by-side to create long scalloped borders.
• To make your own dimensional butterfly, just stamp the butterfly image out, color it a bit darker with a Prismacolor pencil, cut out, adhere the center to the card with a small glue dot, and bend the wings back so it can fly!

Next, feast your eyes on this stunning card from Sheri Reguly.  So feminine and pretty…love it!  Sheri says,“Hearts aren’t just for Valentine’s Day anymore. In fact, they’re the perfect addition to any card created with love. I made this card for a very dear friend, and wanted her to know just how much her thoughtfulness meant to me. The sentiment I chose couldn’t have been more fitting.”

Supplies:

• Heart Flourish
• Hugs and Hearts
• Blossom Notecards
• VersaMark Ink
• White Embossing Powder
• Spring Felt Flowers
• Assorted Crystal Gemstones
• Other: cardstock (Bazzill), brads (Bazzill), ribbon (American Crafts), decorative border punch (Martha Stewart)

Sheri’s Tips:

• To create this simple yet elegant design, stamp the sentiment along the bottom right hand edge, followed by the heart flourish directly above it using VersaMark. Top with white embossing powder and heat set.
• Add green embossed cardstock to the left hand side, followed by a decorative scalloped edge and a vertical strip of floral ribbon.
• For a finishing touch, add a felt flower topped with a clear gemstone and two small pink brads.

I just love the happy colors and singing bird on this next card!  Barbara Hache dreamed up this sweet design, and she says, “Hearts are often associated with Valentine’s Day but they can also be used for so many other occasions. I fell in love with this sentiment when I saw it ! It is the perfect way to marry heart stamps with a thank you sentiment.”

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Hugs and Hearts
• Clear Design: So Sweet
• Primary Elements Chalk Ink Queue
• Black Memories Ink
• Cream, Pink , Pool, Baby Blue, Cantaloupe Notecards
• Other: colored pencils

Barbara’s Tips:

• Make a bunch of hearts while you have your inks and papers out. They make great embellishments for all kinds of cards.
• To keep this from looking to “Valentiney”, use bright colors and smaller hearts.

And Jacki Jones wraps things up today with a fabulous Z-fold thank you card.  Jacki shares, “One of our family traditions is to have everyone sign the cards that go out from the family. This particular card is an ‘after Christmas’ thank you card with seven hearts on the front to represent the seven of us. I left plenty of room in this one for everyone. ”

Here is the front of Jacki’s card…

And here is the inside.  I love how she stamped the sentiment at the bottom…

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Hugs and Hearts
• Other: burgundy dye ink, white card stock, patterned paper (Basic Grey’s Eva collection)

Jacki’s Tips:

• To create this fold, I started with a 5 1/2 x 11 inch piece of white card stock. It’s scored at 4 1/2 inches and then 8 1/2 inches. I flipped it over and scored it 2 3/4 inches from the opposite side.
• All areas were covered with printed papers except the 4 1/2 inch panel which I left blank for all the signatures.

Laura, Sheri, Barbara and Jacki…thanks for all of the beautiful inspiration!

Now…since all four artists used the Clear Design Hugs and Hearts set on today’s cards, we thought it would be fitting to give one away!

For a chance to win, just leave a comment here on this post and thank someone for something!  It can be anyone…for anything.  I’ll draw a random winner on Thursday morning. Good luck!

Thanks to YOU for stopping by today!  Have a good one.

Hi everyone!  It’s going to be another “lovely” week here on the blog, as we celebrate everything HEARTS!  But this week we have a twist — we’ll be showing the versatility of hearts by taking them beyond Valentine’s Day.  The sweet and simple shape of the heart is perfect for so many different occasions.

The Web Artists have put together some creative and heartfelt cards that can be used all year round.  I can’t wait to share their ideas with you this week, so let’s get started!  It’s heart show and tell time!

Here is an anniversary card I made using my favorite new heart stamp, the woodgrain heart from the Hugs and Hearts set.  Anniversaries and hearts naturally go hand in hand, but for some reason I’m often stumped when it comes to anniversary card ideas.  I plan to create several of this design to have on hand — maybe anniversaries will stop sneaking up on me that way!

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Hugs and Hearts
• Clear Design: Valentine Flourishes
• Clear Design: All Occasion Messages
• Heart Accent Pearls
• Small Accent Pearls
• Chocolate & Kraft Notecards
• Memories ArtPrint Brown Ink
• Soft Pool Shadow Ink
• VersaMark Ink
• White Embossing Powder
• Other: cardstock, patterned paper (Basic Grey’s Urban Prairie collection), scallop border punch (Martha Stewart Crafts), seam binding (Martha Stewart Crafts), pop dots

Tami’s Tips:

• Use white embossing powder and pop dots to make the heart really stand out.
• Stamp the sentiment and small heart from the All Occasion Messages set repeatedly.  Because the stamps are clear, alignment is easy.
• This card could be personalized with number stamps indicating which anniversary is being celebrated.

Next, Robyn Werlich is here to show how hearts can be perfect for “thinking of you” type cards.  Robyn shares, “A very dear friend of mine recently miscarried and I wanted to create a card for her telling her how much I love her and am thinking of her. Heart stamps were a natural place for me to start…and I loved this saying! The heart flourish and the two small hearts are embossed with white embossing powder. Lots of love on this card!”

Supplies:

• Clear Design: So Sweet
• Clear Design: All Occasion Messages
• Heart Flourish
• Woodgrain Circle
• Raindrop Background
• Kraft Notecards
• Heart Accent Pearls
• Assorted Crystal Gemstones
• Versamark Ink
• White Embossing Powder

Robyn’s Tip:  This card is so easy to create! Simply punch three hearts from cardstock and stamp them with various stamps. Then, stamp and emboss two small hearts and cut them out. By layering with some pop-dots, gems and your saying strip, it really comes together to create a beautiful card.

Finally, check out this amazing window card from Leslie Lightfoot.  Leslie says, “I think hearts on any card are appropriate and a welcomed special touch. Whenever we make a handmade card, a piece of our heart goes into it. For my card I used a hint of ‘hearts’ with the flourish stamp as well as the new delicious heart pearls!”

Supplies:

• ClearDesign: Valentine Flourishes
• DesignBlock: Four Leaf Grid
• Houndstooth Background
• Memories ArtPrint Brown Ink
• Soft Apricot Shadow Ink
• Pink & Sunshine Notecards
• Card Buttons Summer
• Orange Gemstones
• Heart Accent Pearls
• Other: circle punch, foam adhesive squares, corrugated paper

Leslie’s Tips:

• Play peek-a-boo with your stamped images by creating windows in the front of your card.
• For small punched butterflies, three Hero Arts gemstones work perfectly for the body and head. They are attached together for easy use.
• Make your card sentiment stand out by cutting out separate words and adding three-dimensional foam adhesive behind for pop.

Wonderful heart cards girls…thanks so much!

So…the challenge for this week is to create a non-Valentine project (card, scrapbook page, or other) featuring — you guessed it — hearts!  Anniversaries, birthdays, thank yous, thinking of you, sending a hug…the possibilities are endless! Get creative with those heart images this week and be sure to include at least one Hero Arts stamp on each of your projects.  Upload your creations to the Hero Arts Flickr group by 11:59pm PST on Sunday, February 1.  Please include the tag “heartfelt” on your submissions.  We have lots of prizes up for grabs this week!

• 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…a BONUS Winner: see prize package below!
  

We’ll award a special bonus prize for the most creative use of a heart stamp.  Take another look at your heart images…what could you turn them into?! The bonus prize includes a wood mounted Heart Flourish stamp, a package of assorted Blush notecards, and a package of Heart Accent Pearls.  I just noticed that Robyn, Leslie and I all used heart pearls on our cards today…they are yummy!

Can’t wait to see what you all come up with!  I’ll be back tomorrow with four more Web Artists and plenty of heartfelt cards…see you then!