Hi everyone!  It’s Lisa here — I’m back to announce the winners of last week’s “Inspired By” Challenge, where we asked you to submit entries inspired by the winners of our first ever Win a Day on the Hero Club blog Contest!

There were so many great entries that we judges had a terrible time picking the winners. So, starting with this contest we’ve added a new category – Fresh Face — someone who has never won a challenge before. The winner of this new category will receive a $50 shopping spree + the Hero Arts 2008 Catalogs! WOO HOO!  So, don’t be shy — if you’ve never won before now’s your chance!

And now…our first Fresh Face winner is…drumroll…liane3322!!! Just look at her sweet Big Owl card inspired by Julie — just too clever!

Now for the other winners…

Third place goes to Susanne Nilsson for her happy birthday card inpsired by Kelly — love how she used the same layout, but added a butterfly!

Next, second place goes to Lucy, England! She had several entries that the judges loved, so we decided we had to show two of them to you. First, check out at these cards inspired by Ashley — just look at all those buttons!

The judges also loved Lucy’s tags inspired by Donna – so cute!

Finally, for first place…

…BIG drumroll…

sandeallen with her super fun, creative take on Ashley’s snowglobe! Isn’t it just too clever? The judges love how there’s a starfish on top of the tree + the clam “present”!

Since there were so many great entries this week, we just couldn’t stop there! Here are two Honorable Mentions…

The first one goes to  cassie017 for her sweet tag inspired by Donna:

Finally, the judges loved Andi’s elegant holiday card inspired by Lisa C!   Especially the lavender, black + white color scheme, and using the DesignBlock Tree — a non-holiday stamp — to create a Christmas card — brilliant!

Congratulations, one and all!  Please email us at the address in the blog sidebar with the subject “Inspired By Winner” and we’ll get your goodies right out to you!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered — what truly inspiring submissions.  You can see all of the  entries HERE.  And for those of you who haven’t entered a challenge yet — come on in and join in the fun!  YOUR project could be here next week.

See you next time,

WOW — what a week it’s been here on the Hero Club Blog! Here’s a glimpse of the creativity and inspiration provided by the very first winners of the Win-a-Day on the Hero Club Blog Contest.

But that’s not all!  To see how the five winners inspired each of the Hero Artists, click on the daily links below.

• Monday:  Lisa & Ashley Marcu
• Tuesday:  Sally & Kelly Rasmussen
• Wednesday:  Jennifer & Donna Mikasa
• Thursday:  Nancy & Lisa Carroll
• Friday:  Shari & Julie Dudley

The Hero Artists would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to Ashley, Kelly, Donna, Lisa, and Julie.  The work they created for this week blew us away!  We had tons of fun working with each of you girls — truly a pleasure.  We appreciate you sharing your talents so freely with us and the rest of the blog readers.  YOU inspire US!

Did you know we have another similar contest going on right now?  Yes, you could win your own day on the blog too! Be sure to check out the details HERE and give it a shot.  We look forward to seeing your submissions!

Finally, we’d like to remind you about this week’s challenge, which is to create something inspired by one of this week’s five talented gals.  The deadline is Sunday, Nov. 9 at 11:59pm PST and this post contains more information.  Have fun!

Thanks for joining ALL of us this week!

Hi everyone, Shari Carroll here.  This is the final day for the “Win a Day on the Hero Blog” and I’ve been waiting ever so impatiently (all week) to introduce you to the very talented Julie Dudley.

I’m excited to get started as Julie has conjured up some tasty blog candy for you all to enjoy.  Thanks Julie, you rock!  Here’s a chance to get to know my special guest from down under:

Q1: What is your favorite stamping technique? (Simple stamping, embossing, collage, etc.)

Julie: My favorite stamping technique is to use my watercolors and 3D my images if I can.

Q2: What is your “go-to” color combination?

Julie: It’s most definitely the earthy colors. Browns and greens.

Q3: What are your favorite Hero Arts embellishments? (Gems, pearls, buttons, etc.)

Julie: I just love my stash of buttons and would probably use them the most.

Q4: What inspires you?

Julie: I am inspired by a lot of things but lately it has been my photos. I also get lots of inspiration from checking out the galleries and blogs of my favorite scrappers and cardies.

Q5: What is your favorite dessert?

Julie: It has to be cheesecake all the way.

Yum, cheesecake is one of my favorites too.  When I received the list of stamps that Julie wanted to work with, I was thrilled, she picked some of my top choices.  But when I feasted my eyes on this Halloween treat bag, I was blown away.  This is absolutely amazing!

Here’s a close-up.

I decided to use this owl in a completely different way.  I wanted it/him to “stand” on his own.

Featured Supplies:

• Big Owl
• Other:  patterned paper (Basic Grey and SEI), letters (American Crafts and Carolee’s Creations), scallop punch (Fiskars),  unknown Halloween die cuts and trims, buttons, watercolor pencils, color pencils

Tips for Julie’s Treat Bag: This is a great opportunity to reuse paper bags from the store.  With a little love and attention, a ghoulish owl mixed with papers and trim can transform an ordinary sack into a treasured holiday keepsake.

Tips for Shari’s Owl Card: A larger image can become a mini card by just affixing it to cardstock and cutting around the edges.  The key is to leave the fold uncut at the fold on top of the ears.

Next is another favorite card that Julie sent me.  Her simplicity and color combination is just perfect.

I was inspired completely by Julie’s design and stamped up a clear tag.

Featured Supplies:

• Clear Design Four Bold Messages
• Clear Design Share Laughter
• White StazOn
• Other:  patterned paper (SEI), (Basic Grey), flower (Prima), clear tag (Clearscraps), button

Tips for Julie’s Card: Julie’s card would be perfect for making several at a time.  By changing colors and using all four stamps from the set, a batch of cards can be made in no time.

Tips for Shari’s Tag: Tags can be used on cards and layouts or just by them selves.  By stamping on acetate, any color cardstock or printed paper can be placed behind for a completely different look.

I love this layout and how Julie created a grouping with the pictures and journal stamp.

I used only a portion of the stamp (Calendar) for my scenic type photograph.

Featured Supplies:

• Adventure Journal
• Basic Lowercase Letters
• Other: patterned paper (Basic Grey, Sassafras Lass, My Minds Eye), letters (American Crafts, Making Memories), scallop edge punch (Fiskars), flowers (Prima)

Tips for Julie’s Layout: One simple journal stamp image can set the stage for a complete layout.  Add photos, trimmings and title letters in a grouping.

Tips for Shari’s Layout: Use stamp portions that might fit the photograph in a more appropriate manner.  In this case, a scenic seasonal photo may not require as much journaling. Use small letters as a subtitle.

Enabling alert! As with all of the stamps shown on the blog this week, today’s featured stamps are all RIGHT HERE in the store!

Are you ready for a GIVEAWAY?  To honor Julie and her love for little letters, I decided a very functional alphabet set would be fitting.  Three lucky winners will be able to create their own little tiles with the Basic Lower Case set of letters.

To enter, just leave a note for Julie here on today’s post.  We will announce the winners on Saturday morning.  Good luck!  There’s still time to enter the challenge this week, remember you have until 11:59pm PST on Sunday. Read more about the challenge details on Monday’s post here.

Julie, when artwork started appearing in the Hero Arts Flickr pool shortly after we started this blog, I was instantly drawn to your work. Your style sings to me in several ways from your color combinations, card and layout designs, to the attention to detail you always incorporate into your artwork. You were a natural fit for me to choose to spend a day with. It has been such a pleasure to work with you for this day of challenges.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  If you’d like to see more of what Julie’s up to, you can check out her blog here.

And here’s a little note from Julie:

I want to say a big thank you to both Hero Arts and Shari for the opportunity to share a piece of me with you. Being a part of the Hero Arts blog even if only for a day has been an awesome experience. I have had fun putting together these projects and I can’t wait to see the creations you put together for this weeks challenge.

Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you next week.

Hi everyone!  Nancy here, welcoming you to another day on the blog.  Today we are featuring the fourth winner of our Win-a-Day on the Hero Club Blog Contest.  Stampers, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Lisa Carroll.

Let’s get to know Lisa a little better with a question and answer session.

Q1: What is your favorite stamping technique? (Simple stamping, embossing, collage, etc.)

Lisa:  I’d have to say it’s a tie between heat embossing and cutting out/around my stamped images. There are so many great effects you can achieve with heat embossing, and cutting out your stamped images can really spotlight them.

Q2: What is your “go-to” color combination?

Lisa:  Green, black, and white. It’s a very crisp, easy combination that lends itself well to just about any image or style of card.

Q3: What are your favorite Hero Arts embellishments? (Gems, pearls, buttons, etc.)

Lisa:  Definitely the Gemstones and Accent Pearls. Although, I am really loving the new Felt Snowflakes lately, too…I’m on my third baggie so far!

Q4: What inspires you?

Lisa:  Just about anything! From print ads and catalogs, to fabrics, and even retail store displays. However, it’s usually other stampers and their creations that really make me want to stamp. ;)  My favorites are classic designs that have some sort of fresh, unique twist to them, or that use a stamp in a new and unexpected way.

Q5: What is your favorite dessert? (Yum!)

Lisa:  Crème Brûlée with lots of fresh berries…OH. MY.

As part of her prize, Lisa selected some stamps and came up with the idea of demonstrating how NON-holiday stamps can be used in holiday ways, and vice versa.  Great idea! You will see these ideas in action in all three of the cards she created for the blog today.

Lisa’s first card features a poinsettia stamp, which of course is traditionally associated with the holidays. However, when lavender ink is used,  it instantly becomes a beautiful all-occasion floral.

I was inspired by the layout of Lisa’s card — it’s a great one to showcase the background stamp’s pretty pattern.

Featured Supplies:

• DesignBlock Poinsettia and Birds
• Poinsettia Bloom
• Amazing
• Black Gemstones
• Accent Pearls
• Felt Poinsettia and Leaves
• Other:  pop dots

Tips for Lisa’s “Amazing” Card: Try cutting (or partially cutting) out your stamped images to add dimension and interest!  Small-tipped scissors are the best for really getting into those tight places, and always remember to turn your paper and not the scissors while cutting to get smooth, controlled curves.

Tips for Nancy’s Christmas Card: The white StazOn ink takes a while to dry. To determine if the ink is dry use a piece of dark scratch paper to see if you can blot any ink from the background before trimming or adding details.

Now feast your eyes on Lisa’s elegant card with shimmering touches of gold:

I created a similar look with the flower stamp and added a yellow blossom Sparkle Gem in the center of the flower.

Featured Supplies:

• Clear Design Flower Blossom Borders
• Clear Design Winter Messages
• Sparkle Gems
• Other:  colored pencils, Stickles (Goldenrod), gold specialty paper, gold ribbon (American Crafts)

Tips for Lisa’s Poinsettia Card:  Get more out of your stamps by seeing an image not for what it is, but for what it could be.  This floral image from the Flower Border set wouldn’t traditionally be considered a poinsettia, but with the right color palette and a few glitzy, holiday touches, it can be!  It’s a great way to make your stamps go a lot further and really get the most out of them.

Tips for Nancy’s Poinsettia Card:  All the brightly colored pieces of this card can be cut out while watching football, waiting for doctor or school to let out, or while talking on the phone. The flower and message are stamped in black while additional flowers and leaves are stamped on the colored papers. This card is just waiting for your very own personal touches…time permitting; or it can stand alone as an element in creating a more simple celebration of the season.

Finally, Lisa created this pretty seasonal greeting using a monochromatic green color scheme and of course some of her favorite pearls.

Using the same images, I made an invitation for a holiday open house. Accented with red gemstones, this card is easily created with just two stamps but is full of style.

Featured Supplies:

• Clear Design Branch and Long Leaf Borders
• Clear Design Winter Messages
• Delicate Leaves
• Accent Pearls
• Red Gemstones
• White Embossing Powder
• Other:  white ribbon, pop dots, silver cording, red ribbon

Tips for Lisa’s Mistletoe Card:  When making a large number of cards at once, say, for the holidays, stick to just a couple of images and a monochromatic color scheme.  This makes for fast and easy reproduction!  Make the cards extra special with embellishments like pearls, gemstones, and ribbon.

Tips for Nancy’s Holiday Open House Invitation:: Sometimes last minute get-togethers can be the most fun. The party information is created on your computer, printed on vellum and slipped inside the card. I am still trying to use up my little pieces of ribbon before the end of the year, so each card can include a different ribbon knot.

Giveaway time!  Did you notice the Delicate Leaves stamp we used on our mistletoe cards above?  Well, three randomly selected winners will be receiving it, along with two of Lisa’s favorite embellishments — Felt Snowflakes and Accent Pearls!

Simply leave a comment for Lisa here on this post and you will be entered in the drawing.  I will announce the three winners on Friday morning.

Enabler alert!  All of the stamps used on today’s cards are available HERE in the Hero Arts Online Store.

Lisa, I love your idea of using non-traditional images for holiday greetings. Your talent for creating timeless designs with subtle but elegant accents is a real gift. Thank you for a fun day of stamping — if you lived closer we would probably spend endless days in the wee hours of the night at each other’s house stamping the night away. You can find more of Lisa’s wonderful creations on her blog.

And here’s a little note from Lisa:

My deepest gratitude to Nancy and Hero Arts for giving me this incredible opportunity.  It has been so much fun!  Working with a Hero Artist is every stamper’s dream come true, and an experience I will certainly always treasure. Thank you, Nancy - you are the BEST! 

Have you created a card for this week’s contest yet?  The challenge is to create a card inspired by one of the five Win-a-Day Contest Winners. Complete details and links to the winners’ flickr photostreams and can be found HERE.

I’d like to point out that the winners of last week’s mini challenge have been announced below — didn’t want anyone to miss the news!

Thanks for joining us,

Welcome to a Watch It Wednesday with me, Jennifer.  Today I am very excited to share some wonderful creations by our guest blogger, along with a video and giveaway.

I am so honored to share with you my pick for the Win-a-Day on the Hero Club Blog Contest: Donna Mikasa!

Donna has such amazing talent.  Her colorful cards with creative touches have always grabbed my attention.  I am thrilled she is here today.  And, to top things off, she is as sweet as she is talented.  Let’s get to know her with some questions…

Q1: What is your favorite stamping technique?  (Simple stamping, embossing, collage, etc.)

Donna: My favorite technique is probably simple stamping with layering of different colored cardstock and printed paper to complement or contrast the image.  I’ve recently dug up my heat gun from hibernation and started to do some heat embossing and making intaglio embellishments.  Overall, I think I’m a simple stamper, and quick and easy works best for me.

Q2:  What is your “go-to” color combination?

Donna: I’m drawn to earth tones–browns and olive greens.  Sometimes I like to add a bit of pink, orange, or even red, for a pop of color and some interest.

Q3: What are your favorite Hero Arts embellishments?  (Gems, pearls, buttons, etc.)

Donna: Gemstones and pearls!  Gemstones add a playful bling to the card as a finishing touch and pearls give a subtle softness which I like.  I like how pearls can be colored with permanent markers so you can have custom-made pearls in colors to match your cards/layouts.

Q4: What inspires you?

Donna: Sometimes I’ll see a certain color combination or a sketch, which I’ve recently started jotting it down in a journal.  I love visiting blogs and watching tutorials of a new technique or card composition.  I also like the Kuler website which has taught me to experiment with new colors, and lead me outside of my comfort zone of earth tones.

Q5: What is your favorite dessert?  (Yum!)

Donna: My favorite dessert is a small scoop of Pau’wela (pow-wella) Sunrise, a flavor of ice cream that’s made here in Hawaii.  It’s an orange creamsicle flavor with small bits of pineapple in it.  So yummy and refreshing ! We’re lucky to have our own seasonal fruit, too, so often times, some chilled, sliced mangoes will satisfy a sweet tooth!  Double yum!

Boy…I don’t know what sounds better: living in Hawaii or that wonderful dessert!

When Donna showed me her creations for today, I was so excited.  These adorable cupcake cards caught my eye immediately…

Here is what her cards inspired from me…

Featured Supplies:

• Clear Design Cupcakes
• Clear Design Birthday Messages
• DesignBlock Flourish
• Sparkle Clear Sweet Moments
• Accent Pearls
• Assorted Hero Arts Gemstones
• Other:  patterned paper, sheer dot ribbon (Offray), scallop circle punch (Fiskars), word label punch (Stampin’ Up), pop dots, Stickles (Ranger), silk ribbon (Creative Impressions)

Tips on Donna’s Cupcake Cards:  I absolutely LOVE making Jennifer’s circle cards.  The back of the card is creased so it can open up without disturbing the front of the card. (Click HERE to watch a video on creating them.)

Tips on Jennifer’s Candy Pouch:  Interested in making a candy pouch like this one?  Here is a video showing how…

Don’t you love these three cards Donna created?  So colorful and eye-catching.

I loved how she added coloring with pencil.  Here is my take on the technique…

Featured Supplies:

• Bird on a Branch
• Silhouette Corner
• From the Heart Greetings stamp set
• Clear Design Anytime Messages
• Other: Cuttlebug Birds & Swirls embossing folder, Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol, ribbon (American Crafts), vintage textbook paper, ribbon (Creative Impressions), Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder

Tips on Donna’s Bird Cards:  I like the size of this K stamp and tried stamping different colored Hero notecards to see what they looked like.  All cards were stamped with the same ink and details were added with coordinating colored pencils.

Tips on Jennifer’s Card:  I was intrigued by how Donna stamped with a dark ink on colored paper and added shading with a colored pencil around the image.  So creative!  So I inked some vintage paper with green ink then stamped on it in black.  I added dimension with colored pencil - so easy and fun.

Donna also created this amazing clear card.  I love how she stamped with white on the acetate and then matched it with white embossing on the paper.

Here is my card with lots of white goodness…

Featured Supplies:

• DesignBlock Line & Flower Pattern
• DesignBlock Wavy Leaf Pattern
• Clear Design Sunshine Flowers
• Clear Design Wishful Messages
• Sparkle Clear Just Wanted
• White StazOn Ink
• Art Flowers and Accent Pearls
• White Embossing Powder
• Other: white pen (Ranger Inkssentials)

Tips on Donna’s Acetate Card:  I really wanted to try an acetate card and it just wasn’t coming together. I rewatched the how-to video (watch it HERE) and finally completed this card. It’s a thank you to Jennifer for choosing me and giving me the honor of working with her on my blog day. Inside I handwrote:  “…for the ride of a lifetime!” which is what this truly was.  Big hugs, Jennifer!  I lined up all the sentiments on one acrylic block and stamped it all at once and heat embossed.  The acetate card is trimmed into a square and since I lost some background flowers, I stamped small ones here and there to fill in the spaces. I also used a white Inkssentials pen and drew in a few more dots on the background.

Tips on Jennifer’s Card:  (Donna is too sweet, isn’t she?)  This card would be a great one to make multiples of at once.  Just mix of the flower colors and have some fun.

Now it’s time for giveaway!  This stamp set makes me think of Donna, since she creates joy all around her.  Just leave a nice message for Donna on this post by 11:59pmPST and we will pick THREE lucky winners of this From the Heart Greetings stamp set!

We will announce the winners on Thursday morning.  [Update: The winners have been announced HERE...but still feel free to leave a comment for Donna if you like!]

Donna, thanks for sharing your talent and creative masterpieces with everyone and for being a part of our Hero Arts Flickr Group.  I am so thankful I have gotten to know you.  Big hugs to you!

And here’s a little note from Donna:  

This has been the most awesome experience for me. From being chosen, then given the opportunity to work with Jennifer, whom I’ve always admired. Talk about a dream come true! Thank you, Hero Arts, for your fantastic blog, and giving us the opportunity of being showcased. I’ve been truly blessed!

See you soon,

A sunny hello to all…and special Election Day greetings to everyone in the US!  I’m Sally Traidman and I approve the following message. 

Today I’m happy to introduce Kelly Rasmussen, who was my choice for our “Win-a-Day on the Hero Club Blog” week.

Kelly is a talented stamper whose style I really enjoy.  I must confess…it was a tough job to find my buddy because there is sooooo much talent out there!  I sought the help of my fellow bloggers, but I made the ultimate decision myself.  I was looking for someone who shared the same somewhat simple style and design that always seems to show up in my own card making. Kelly’s color palette is also similar…although she doesn’t LOVE pink and orange as much as I do…haha!  Let’s find out a bit more more about Kelly!

Q1: What is your favorite stamping technique?  (Simple stamping, embossing, collage, etc.)

Kelly:  I love embossing…it gives a stamped image such a crisp, clean look.

Q2:  What is your “go-to” color combination?

Kelly:  I use brown on just about every card I make. Love pairing it with different shades of greens and blues.

Q3: What are your favorite Hero Arts embellishments?  (Gems, pearls, buttons, etc.)

Kelly:  Gems…sometimes a card just doesn’t feel complete without a little bling. :)  Love to color the gems with permanent markers too.

Q4: What inspires you?

Kelly:  I love to browse through a magazine or catalog before I start making a card. It seems to get me in a more creative mode. Home decor magazines, like Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware, are great for helping me choose new color combos to try.

Q5: What is your favorite dessert?  (Yum!)

Kelly:  Oh, this is so hard…I have such a sweet tooth! I love coconut cream pie, chocolate chip peanut butter cookies and any type of ice cream dessert. One of my most recent favorites is Apple Dapple Cake. Yum-O!!

Kelly created several cute cards using Hero Arts stamps, and I’ve selected three to show you today.  I used the same stamps as she did and will share three (well actually…four) more cards to give you my spin.

So to kick things off, let’s talk holiday greetings with penguins!  Here is Kelly’s absolutely adorable card featuring the Sparkle Clear Warm Wishes set:

And here is my card featuring the same set:

Featured Supplies:

• Sparkle Clear Warm Wishes
• White Embossing Powder
• Accent Pearls
• Light Blue Gemstones
• Assorted Crystal Gemstones
• Felt Snowflakes
• Other: colored pencils, glitter glue, pop dots, scallop border punch, scallop circle punch, ribbon

Tips on Kelly’s Penguin Card:  I like to add crystal gems to the center of snowflakes for extra sparkle.  Another tip: when using white embossing powder, use a fine paintbrush to brush off any excess powder on the card before embossing.

Tips on Sally’s Penguin Card: I love making “tag” cards. They enable you to create a fast, simple card in five minutes. And the pearl embellishments are perfect for winter snow cards!

Next we turned to the Sparkle Clear Cupcakes set to create some birthday cards.  First is Kelly’s sweet card, which I love because of the colors — look at that delicious pink and orange!

Here is my yellow card…but truly…cupcakes look good in any color, right?!

As a bonus, I made an extra non-birthday card using some of the other elements from the cupcake set. The doodled line stamp is so much fun — I use it a lot for borders, strings, frames, etc.

Featured Supplies:

• Sparkle Clear Cupcakes
• Assorted Gemstones
• Accent Pearls
• Spring Art Flowers
• Other: patterned paper (My Mind’s Eye), pink satin ribbon, button, embroidery floss, pop dots, colored pencils, red/pink gingham ribbon, scallop square punch, wavy scissors

Tips on Kelly’s Cupcake Card:  When deciding on a color scheme for a card, I often like to start by choosing a patterned paper and then solid colored cardstocks to match.  Clear stamps make it simple to make a background using any image, as I did here with the repeated “yummy” sentiment.  Also, tiny buttons make perfect centers for the Hero Arts Art Flowers.

Tips on Sally’s Cards:  That little squiggle stamp is very versatile — try curving it on your acrylic block to stamp around a scallop circle! And to get the solid color for the heart, turn the outline heart over and ink the “wrong” side.

Finally, we each created thank you cards with the wonderful DesignBlock Flourish and Clear Design Thank You Messages.  Feast your eyes on Kelly’s beautiful aqua and chocolate creation, which includes her favorite technique — heat embossing.

And here is my take.  I love sending real “thank yous” in the mail rather than an e-mail thanks…it means so much more. Long live the pretty postage stamps!

Featured Supplies:

• Clear Design Thank You Messages
• DesignBlock Flourish
• Clear Design Happy Thanksgiving (for bird)
• Sparkle Clear Hello Birdie (for branch)
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Assorted Crystal Gemstones
• Lavender Gemstones
• Other: brown polka dot ribbon (American Crafts), aqua permanent marker (Bic), scallop scissors, scallop punch, circle punch, lavender polka dot ribbon

Tips on Kelly’s Thank You Card:  I love using VersaMark ink and clear embossing powder to create a subtle background. One more tip:  see what objects you might have around your home to use in your stamping.  The curved edge of this card was created simply by tracing the lid of a container.

Tips on Sally’s Thank You Card:  Random stamping with the many thank you stamps in the set makes a great card with no elaborate design.  Kelly’s favorite embossing technique gives it a classy look.

Enabling alert!  Just like yesterday, ALL of the stamps featured in today’s cards are available in the Hero Arts Online Store HERE.

Now…how about another giveaway today in honor of our special guest? For today’s prize, three lucky winners will each get a Heart stamp plus Kelly’s favorite embellishment — gems — one package each of Citron and Pink!

To enter, just leave a comment for Kelly here on today’s post.  On Wednesday morning the three random winners will be announced.  [Wednesday update: The winners have been announced HERE.   Do keep leaving comments for Kelly if you like, tho!]

Kelly is a GEM…just like her favorite embellishment!! She created some great cards with her Hero Arts stamp winnings.  It was truly a pleasure working with her. Kelly, I hope you enjoyed your day on the blog!

And here’s a little note from Kelly:  

Winning a day on the Hero Arts blog has been an incredible experience!  Working with Sally was so much fun and I admire her wonderful style.  I am truly honored to be amongst so many talented artists.  Thank you Hero Arts for creating this amazing blog!

I hope you enjoyed today’s blog and guest artist. Don’t forget about this week’s challenge — to create a card inspired by one of the Win-a-Day Contest Winners.  You can find all of the details HERE.  And…for those of you in the US, don’t forget to get out and cast your Election Day VOTE!!!

Hi everyone, Lisa here!  This week Sally, Jennifer, Nancy, Shari and I will be featuring the winners of the first ever Win-a-Day on the Hero Club Blog Contest starting with my pick, Ashley Marcu.  Welcome Ashley!

So that you could better get to know all of the winners, we asked them each the same five questions:

Q1: What is your favorite stamping technique?  (Simple stamping, embossing, collage, etc.)

Ashley: I love basic stamping with chalk ink. It’s easy and the colors are brilliant. I also often use colored pencils.

Q2:  What is your “go-to” color combination?

Ashley: Blue, green and brown.

Q3: What are your favorite Hero Arts embellishments?  (Gems, pearls, buttons, etc.)

Ashley: Buttons! I have a hard time making a card without at least one button.

Q4: What inspires you?

Ashley: Seasons, home decorating magazines, other artists, nature and patterned paper.

Q5: What is your favorite dessert?  (Yum!)

Ashley: Chocolate chip cookies and all varieties of them including cookie dough and ice cream!

Mmmmmm, I love chocolate chip cookies too.  Actually, I’ll eat anything with chocolate, ha ha!

As part of their prize, the winners selected stamps from the current catalogs to use on their blog day.   We also sent them along a few extra goodies like notecards and embellishments.   Then we asked each of them to create some cards.

I couldn’t wait to see what Ashley came up with — I just love her clean, fun style. Check out her super snowman snow globe card featuring the Clear Design Let It Snow set — LOVE it!

Ashley inspired me to make a shaped card too:

Featured Supplies:

• Clear Design Let It Snow
• Sparkle Gem Hearts
• Felt Snowflakes
• Felt Poinsettias and Leaves
• Snowflake Gemstones
• Silver Embossing Powder
• Other: polka dot papers (Bo Bunny), velvet ribbon (May Arts), polka dot ribbon (American Crafts), scallop die (Nestabilities), die cut machine (Cuttlebug)

Tips on Ashley’s Snow Globe Card: To make a globe shaped card, first create a template by cutting out a circle and a rectangle.  Round the top left and right corners of the rectangle, then glue to the circle.  Trace the template on two pieces of cardstock.  Decorate the front piece as you like.  For the back piece, score it about 1/2 inch from the top and glue it to the front, adding the glue just along the edge. Here’s another tip:  silver embossing a message on a dark color really makes it pop!

Tips on Lisa’s Scalloped Circle Card:  Use a die to cut out two 4″ scallop circles.  To create the card, score one of the scallops about 1/2″ from the top and glue it to the other.  The scallop with the score will form the back of the card.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s one!

Here’s another tip — you can never have too much sparkle on a Christmas card!  Add glitter to felt snowflakes + use it to create snow drifts.  Don’t forget the gems.  And one last tip:  If you stamp the hat and the snowman both in black, you can stamp the hat right on the snowman’s head — no need for cutting.

Next, Ashley made this joyful card featuring the Special Edition Creative Trees set, the Tiny Owl, and buttons — of course!

And here’s my card using the same stamps:

Featured Supplies:

• Special Edition Creative Trees
• Tiny Owl
• Clear Design Anytime Messages (for “find joy everyday”)
• Clear Design Happy Thanksgiving (for “many blessings to you”)
• Summer Buttons
• Neutral Buttons
• Black Gemstones
• Smooth Gemstones
• Fall Chalk Queue
• Other: polka dot paper (Bo Bunny), flower + leaf paper (Basic Grey),  embossing folder (Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots), brown permanent marker (Bic), white pen

Tips on Ashley’s card:  The “find joy everyday” message is actually one long message, but you can cut up the stamp — and then since the stamp is clear — you can easily reposition it and stamp it as shown!  Another tip is to color the owl’s eyes with a white pen, then add black gemstones — too cute.   One more tip:  Pick inks and embellishments in the same colors and mix them around in your design.  It’s a fun way to play with color!

Tips on Lisa’s card:  Try using the same tree stamped in different colors — oranges and browns from the new Fall Queue are used here.   Another tip is to change the color of a gemstone with a permanent marker.

Next, here are two cards featuring Ashley’s “go-to” color combo of blue, green and brown.  First is Ashley’s clean + simple thank you card:

And here’s my take — I used more green and less blue.  I just love this color combo! I also emphasized the blue by stamping a flower on felt.

Featured Supplies:

• DesignBlock Floating Leaf Pattern
• Flower Circle
• Clear Design Anytime Messages (for “thanks”)
• Clear Design Tree, Birds & Messages (for “hello!”)
• Blue Gemstones
• Smooth Gemstones
• VersaMark Ink
• Clear Sparkle Embossing Powder
• Other: blue polka dot paper (Bo Bunny), green raised dot paper (Bazzill), felt, ribbon (May Arts)

Tips on Ashley’s thanks card: DesignBlock stamps aren’t just for backgrounds — punch or cut out pieces to use as focal points!  And don’t forget to finish off your card with a button.

Tips on Lisa’s hello card:   To stamp on felt, chose a stamp with a bold pattern such as the Circle Flower.  Ink up your stamp as you normally would and stamp it on the felt, pressing firmly for 30 seconds or so to give the ink time to transfer to the felt.  Then set aside to dry.  I used Blue Memories Dye ink here.  Chalk inks also work well.  Note:  Don’t try to speed up the drying process by heating the felt with a heat gun — you’ll melt the felt!  One more tip:  Try embossing stamped images with clear sparkle powder — it adds that extra “little something”.

Enabling alert!  ALL of the stamps used in today’s cards are HERE in the Hero Arts Online Store — WOO HOO!

Now for this week’s challenge.  Using at least one Hero Arts stamp, create a card inspired by one of the Win-a-Day Contest winners.  Upload it to the Hero Arts Flickr Group by 11:59 PM PST on Sunday, November 9th, then tag it with the code word “inspiredby“.  Please indicate in the description which winner inspired you and how.   So that you can get started early on the contests, here are links to each of the winner’s photostreams:

• Ashley Marcu
• Kelly Rasmussen
• Donna Mikasa
• Lisa Carroll
• Julie Dudley
  

Want to win a day on the Hero Club Blog?  We have another contest going on now!  Click HERE for full details.

Now, how about a giveaway?  Each day this week we’re going to celebrate the winners with a fun giveaway!   For today’s prize, three lucky winners will each get a Flower Circle,  plus Ashley’s favorite embellishments — buttons — with one package each of Summer and Neutral Buttons!

To enter, just leave a comment for Ashley here on THIS POST.  The three random winners will be announced Tuesday morning.  [Tuesday update:  The winners have been announced HERE.  You can keep leaving comments for Ashley tho!]

Ashley,  I had so much fun stamping with  you and getting to know you better — you are so sweet.  I  love your style and your cards are truly inspiring.  Thanks so very much + congratulations again on winning a day on the Hero Club Blog!  YAY! Want to see more of Ashley’s work? Visit her blog HERE!

And here’s a little note from Ashley:  

Thank you to Lisa and Hero Arts for such an amazing opportunity! Creating for this special Hero Arts contest has been beyond my expectations and I feel so lucky to have been a part of it! These cards were so much fun to put together and I can’t wait to see what you all come up with this week!

Until tomorrow,