Hello again! I’m back to announce the winners of last week’s Layers Challenge. We had a large number of stampers participating — layers and layers of stamped goodness to view!  You all are amazing, and your entries keep getting better (and more difficult to judge) each week.  Thanks so much for sharing your artistry with us and the rest of the Hero Club members.  Please join me in congratulating this week’s winners.

Let’s start off with our Fresh Face winner who will be receiving a $50 Hero Arts shopping spree and 2009 catalog.  Our pick for Fresh Face is tomoh08!  She is good at a variety of different styles so we thought we’d feature TWO of her cards.  First, look at this beautifully layered design…

But wait…she can do “adorable” as well!  The owl on the swing is so clever.

We have another $50 Hero Arts shopping spree and 2009 catalog for the winner of the Scrapbooking category, and **~mel~** takes that prize this week.  Her holiday page showcases the darling photo so well.  We love all the layers and little details she added.

Third Place ($15 Hero Arts shopping spree and 2009 catalog) goes to Ashley.M.  Her cute “you make me smile card” certainly made us smile.  Look at the sweet flower she created using a heart stamp…

Second Place ($25 Hero Arts shopping spree and 2009 Catalog) goes to dedernc3 for her pretty Japanese doll card.  We love the effect she created by stamping the Scallop Flourish on the patterned paper, allowing a small bit of it to peek through.

Now for First Place! In addition to the usual prize ($50 Hero Arts shopping spree and 2009 catalog) the winner of this week’s challenge will receive an autographed copy of “Footsteps In The Fog”, an intriguing book about Alfred Hitchcock by Hero Arts owner Aaron Leventhal. And the winner is…mi kasa! She created a delightful little owl card that includes so many fantastic layers. A “happy hello”, indeed.

Because there were so many great entries this week, we’d like to point out a few Honorable Mentions, who will be receiving prizes as well.

First, here’s a terrific card from A Beholder’s Eye that would make a perfect greeting for many occasions.  What a great mix of colors, patterns, textures, and stamped images.  She makes it look easy.

Another Honorable Mention goes to karenmp56 for this happy and colorful card featuring a layered flower she created with scalloped punches. The stamping on the petals really adds interest and depth.

Finally, leni4jjc receives an Honorable Mention for another cheerful card.  We love the bright colors and the inspired use of the Outline Flowers DesignBlock to create layered flowers — very pretty!

Congratulations!  Please email us at the address in the blog sidebar, including “Layers” and your prize in the subject line so we can send your prizes out to you. 

Once again, thanks to everyone for entering the Layers Challenge.  Don’t forget, you still have plenty of time to enter Shari’s Pockets Challenge this week. All of the details can be found HERE.  I hear Shari will have a giveaway tomorrow so be sure to stop by.

Until next time,

Welcome to the weekend!  I’ve had a lot of fun sharing various layering techniques this week.  We layered images, papers, colored pencils, ribbons, gems, felt flowers, paper flowers and more…

• Monday: The “together” stamp proved to be a versatile one for all sorts of greetings.
• Tuesday: Changing the color of the paper you stamp on can dramatically change the look of your card.
• Wednesday: Two completely different looks from the same stamps, plus a video showing a quick and thoughtful card idea using an envelope corner.
• Friday: A fun idea for those special holiday photo cards.

Thanks for joining me this week.  I look forward to hearing from all of you on my next blog week.

Until then,

Looking through my holiday cards I realize how many of our friends and family send photo cards. I save them from year to year, watching how much children grow, pets come and go and reminiscing over past holidays.

My niece lives in Dubai with her husband and young son. Each year I receive a holiday photo card from them and during the year we share photos via email.

As a special gift to her each year I send her a scrapbook page using their Christmas card and a single photo of Alexander. It is not a time consuming project for me or a space consuming book for her. I use an 8 ½”x 11″ format. Sometimes I leave the photo card complete and sometimes, as I have done here, I cut apart the card to vary the format.

I used the same set I have been stamping with all week, cutting out the words and butterflies.

The border around the family photo was a part of the new Wallpaper DesignBlock image.

This is a fun project because you never know what colors the photo will be. I try to vary from the traditional red and green to make each year’s page unique.

Supplies:

• Together
• Wallpaper Background DesignBlock
• Raindrop Background DesignBlock
• Basic Uppercase Letters
• Other: Blue inkpad, Dark Blue, White, Red & Light Blue papers

Instructions:

1. Trim the light blue paper to fit over the dark blue, leaving a narrow border.
2. Stamp part of the background image enough times on white paper to go around the family photo. Trim around the design and mount behind the photo. Stamp the desired words on blue paper and 3 butterfly images in blue ink and cut out. Stamp Raindrop Background in blue ink on blue paper and trim to fit photo.
3. Arrange the photos, mounting on different shades of blue and red. Add the butterflies and words. Stamp the date in blue ink at the bottom.

Now, several members of our family are requesting a “holiday card scrapbook” also.  It makes a wonderful gift and takes very little time.  If you decide to give it a try, be sure to enter your page(s) in this week’s contest — you could take home the $50 scrapbooking prize next week!

Hopefully you all have not put away your holiday cards and can start a new tradition with your friends and family.

So here I am sitting in my hotel room, with very few supplies — not even any stamps — wanting to make a card for a sick friend. Using the corner of an envelope to hold a tea bag I was able to send a handmade greeting.

In my first blog week back in April I used envelopes to create design elements on cards. You can view these card ideas here, here, here and here for more ways to use up those odd envelopes.

Now for more ideas with one of my favorite sets. From sophisticated to eclectic, the Together Special Edition set I’ve been using all week really is versatile and so much fun.  Using a limited palette creates a more sophisticated feel.

I love layering the paper flowers. Remember the packages from my blog awhile ago? Lots of paper flower layering on the top of the bow in only cream and white.  (Did you know we are now offering packages of Art Flowers in white and cream?!)

Supplies:

• Together
• Heart Flourish
• Cotton White StazOn Ink
• ArtPrint Brown Ink
• Chocolate & Cream Notecards
• Art Flowers White and Cream
• Art Flowers Neutral
• Assorted Gemstones

Instructions:

1. Using the ArtPrint Brown inkpad, stamp two heart flourish images diagonally across the notecard. On a separate piece of chocolate paper stamp “so special” in white StazOn ink and allow to dry completely. Trim close to the stamped image and mount on cream paper.
2. Attach the mounted heart over the flourish images and add paper flowers gemstones in the middle.
3. The inside reads, “you are to me”.

Here is a tip for using the white StazOn inkpad. This pad comes with a reinker and no ink on the pad. When you ink the pad, ink only as much of the pad as you will be using. There is no point in inking the entire pad if you are using a small stamp.

Since my desk looks like many of yours, I decided to use some of my stamped pieces to make the layers on this card. Stamping on colored paper with ink a little darker than the paper creates a very different look.

Adding both pieces of the punched heart creates a larger focal point…and I am using some “throw away” pieces. Who am I kidding, I would have kept the outside shape.

Supplies:

• Together
• Heart Flourish
• Baby Blue, Kraft, Cantaloupe & Apple Green Notecards
• Brown, orange, blue and green ink
• Other: heart punch

Instructions:

1. Stamp the Heart Flourish on kraft paper in ArtPrint Brown ink. Trim in a rectangular shape. Stamp “so special” in orange ink on cantaloupe paper, mount on a piece of green paper leaving a narrow border. Stamp the Heart flourish in green ink on green paper and cut an additional smaller green rectangle from the stamped green paper.
2. After cleaning the “so special’ image, stamp on blue paper with blue ink. When the ink has dried cut around the heart and punch a heart image from the stamped heart.  Line up the blue punched heart to match the design on the orange heart.
3. Arrange all the pieces in a pleasing manner and glue to the front of the card. Add gemstones in a horizontal and vertical row.

I am having so much fun using a single set for my week, I hope you are too?  Remember, you have until this Sunday at 11:59pm PST to submit your layered cards and scrapbook pages for the challenge.  Check here for all the details.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Tomorrow Jennifer will be here to announce the winners of last week’s Thank You Challenge.

See you on Friday,

Today I will be sharing some cards that use the same stamp set as yesterday…but look very different. I have always liked combining a darker color with bright happy colors. The cards today have a special place in my heart because I am sending them to people who need a little “mood lift”.

Here is the first card created with the “celebrate today” stamp from the new Together Special Edition set.  The inside of this card reads…”and every day“.

Each ribbon is tied around a different layer of paper.  Did you notice the butterfly wings? For Valentine’s Day I am sending this very same card in light pink colors and coloring one of the hearts in the wings with red colored pencil.

I am using the same brown ink pad as yesterday, along with colored pencils. I have added one of our amazing new background images (Raindrop Background). Today I inked it with a single color, and later this week you will see it inked in a several colors for my scrapbook page.

Supplies:

• Together
• Raindrop Background
• ArtPrint Brown Dye Ink
• Green Apple, Kraft, Chocolate, White and Pool Notecards
• Other:  assorted ribbons, colored pencils

Instructions:

1. After stamping the image in ArtPrint Brown ink and trimming the image, cut all the papers to the desired sizes. Stamp the Raindrop pattern on the Pool paper.
2. Color the image with colored pencils, overlapping the darker colors over the lighter ones.
3. Arrange the papers on a Green Apple Notecard. The ribbons are wrapped and attached under the card, and the knots are glued on top of the ribbon…much easier than trying to tie the knot on the front of the card.

Now for another card in the same bright and cheerful colors.  I love layering colored pencils over brown ink — it adds a rich color in unusual shades.

Layering small gemstones over the Sparkle Gem Blossoms is so easy, and it makes the Blossom Gemstones look really fancy too.

Supplies:

• Together
• Raindrop Background
• ArtPrint Brown Dye Ink
• Sparkle Gems Blossoms
• Teal Gemstones
• Citron Gemstones
• Lavender Gemstones
• Sparkle Gems Hearts
• Green Apple, Kraft, Chocolate, White and Pool Notecards
• Other: colored pencils

Instructions:

1. Stamp the “from the heart” image in ArtPrint Brown ink on a piece of Green Apple paper. Add color with pencils around the edges and over the brown hearts. Place one purple heart to the side of one of the colored hearts.
2. After stamping Raindrop Background on Pool paper in ArtPrint Brown ink, layer the colored papers as shown.
3. Add the Sparkle Gems Blossoms in a row, placing a different color of gemstone on top of each.

All of the brand new stamps I’ve used on today’s cards are now available in the Hero Arts Online Store! 

And I’m happy to say that today we’re giving away THREE of the the Together Special Edition sets.  For a chance to win, just leave a comment here and tell me…if there were a “neatest desk” challenge, do you think you would win?  Not me…another permanent New Year’s resolution.   Let me know how the top of your desk (or other stamping surface) looks and on Friday morning I’ll randomly select three winners from the comments.

Have a great time with layering gems, papers, and colored pencils. I can’t wait to see your cards and projects.

Happy New Year everybody! In my continual quest to make life simpler…and more fun…I will be using my blog week to create background papers from stamps, accessories and dimensional effects from stamps, and using Hero Arts supplies in unique ways throughout the year.

This week is about layering, layering and more layering! Why layering? Because one of my (permanent) New Year’s resolutions is to use up the paper I have. Then I started thinking about all the other layering possibilities: paper flowers, buttons, ribbons, colored pencils, felt flowers, gemstones and images. So this week is all about layering and I am using a single set with three additional background images the entire week.

The minute I got the Together Set (LP141) I knew it was destined to be one of my favorites. Use any of the images with the techniques shown each day. Because the sentiment can be used for many different occasions this set will always have a place on my desk. I look forward to seeing what layering techniques you all come up with.  Your ingenuity always inspires me.

These new felt flowers are so much fun! Try using paper with a small pattern to mount under the flowers.

Supplies:

• NEW Together
• NEW Houndstooth Background
• StazOn Jet Black Ink
• ArtPrint Brown Dye Ink
• Kraft Notecards
• Chocolate Notecards
• NEW Neutral Felt Flowers
• Neutral Art Flowers
• Small & Medium Accent Pearls

Instructions:

1. Stamp “Together” image in black ink on Kraft paper, allow to dry and trim close to image. Stamp houndstooth pattern on Kraft paper in ArtPrint Brown ink and trim close to the pattern.
2. After mounting the houndstooth pattern on black paper, set aside. Mount the trimmed “together” image on Chocolate paper. Add the additional layers shown, matching bottom and right sides.
3. Attach the mounted houndstooth pattern on a Chocolate notecard and add the layered “together” image. Remove the backing from a white and a brown felt flower and attach to Kraft colored paper. Using the scissors, trim around the flowers. Add the felt flowers, layer with smaller flowers in contrasting colors and add pearls to the center of each flower.

Now think of all the messages you can put inside that go along with “together”:

• “…we can have fun”
• “…is the best way to spend a vacation”
• “…for the rest of our life”
  
• “…we can overcome anything“

Please add any other idea in your comments, as this is one of my favorite easy-to-work-with sets.

Using basically the same supplies as the card above you can create a very different look (and use up those “adorable” little knots of ribbon you are saving).

Using layers of chalk pencils gives you the opportunity to change the colors of the bird image to match the colors of the paper you wish to use. Chalk pencils are available at most craft stores and are very forgiving to use. They can be blended with cotton swabs and several colors can be layered together.

Supplies:

• NEW Together
• StazOn Jet Black Ink
• Notecards in Kraft, Hyacinth, Black, Chocolate & Cantaloupe
• Other:  ribbons, chalk pencils

Instructions:

1. Stamp “Together” image in black ink on Kraft paper, allow to dry and trim close to image.
2. Add color to the image using chalk pencils. Add a soft layer of color, blend with a cotton swab and add more layers if desired. Layer the trimmed image on Black, Hyacinth, and Kraft papers as shown and mount on a Cantaloupe notecard.
3. Add small knots of assorted ribbons to the upper corner of the card.

As you’ve probably guessed, this week’s challenge is to include layering on your projects.  Please use at least one Hero Arts stamp and load your creations into the Hero Arts Flickr pool by Sunday, January 11th at 11:59pm PST.  Tag your submissions with the word “layers” and have fun!  Here are the prizes…

• 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: $10 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog

And…as a special surprise the winner of this week’s challenge will receive (in addition to the regular prize) an autographed copy of “Footsteps In The Fog”, an intriguing book about Alfred Hitchcock by Aaron Leventhal (the owner of Hero Arts). More about his book can be seen on www.santamonicapress.com.

Tomorrow the cards will look very different but use the same stamp set as today. We will be layering colored pencils, gems and ribbons. Changing the color of the paper you stamp on dramatically changes the look of your card.

See you tomorrow!  In the meantime we are so excited to have our entire new catalog up on the website for all of you to see. Read all about it HERE in this post.