Hero Arts Blog

Yesterday, Mariana shared two fabulous ideas for using the Waves Stencil and today I'm back to share three more ways to use this versatile stencil. More often than not, I use my stencils to create full and partial backgrounds on my cards instead of patterned paper. And what I really love about stencils is the variety of both soft and bold patterns that you can create by...

The new Destination stamps collection is one of my favorites from the new Summer Catalog. The stamps that are part of it include some of the main cities of the U.S. and they are perfect to create cards, postcards, document your trips or even to use on your scrapbook pages.  Today I am sharing a couple of cards featuring  [hero_product_link sku="CL965" text="Kelly's Chicago"], which is one of my...

Today I wanna share a pair of cards and a video showing several different ways to spice up your die cuts. Watch the video below to see how I made them! [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRRzuxwlL5o] If you have a problem viewing this video, please try watching it HERE on YouTube. For this first card, I stamped a background using the anchor from the [hero_product_link sku="CL957" text="Hipster at Heart"] stamp set and some [hero_product_link sku="PW110"...

Believe it or not, the school year is wrapping up here in Georgia next week, and it's time to finalize some teacher gifts! Every class at my kids' school has a nickname - The Monkeys, The Hippos, The Butterflies, etc. My son's teacher this year is Ms. Carroll, and her class is called Carroll's Campers. I knew when I saw some of the new summer products...

Ice cream, sherbet, sorbet, gelato...I've never met a frozen treat I didn't love! Naturally, when the [hero_product_link sku="CL963" text="Color Layering Ice Cream"] set came out, it was an immediate favorite and has since become my go-to set for birthday cards. It works for anyone! Today's card was inspired by some of the yummiest raspberry gelato ever... I started with a very light background wash of...

Ever since Hero Arts added an outer frame die to the Paper Layering die collection I can't stop playing with the new designs, the [hero_product_link sku="DI187" text="Palm Tree"] die in particular. There are two main ways I like to use these dies in my cardmaking and I'd like to share both in this blog post, so keep on reading if you'd like to learn more!...

I'm a big fan of clean and simple one layer cards. It’s really fun focusing on the basics of cardstock, stamps, ink, and very little else to create cards. But CAS one layer card doesn't mean that it's easy to make sometimes but requires attention to detail, right? For today's card, I created a fun summer card with non-traditional summer colors. I tried to mimic a shape of beach ball...

When I first saw [hero_product_link sku="CL958" text="The Adventure Begins"] stamp set, I immediately thought about summer camping weekends, trips "up north" to the cabin, and holiday barbecues. Whether I'm a guest or the hostess, I love to give my friends and family small thank-you gifts or themed party favors to show my appreciation. So, today I'm sharing a card and several gift tags inspired by...

I have found a favorite new product for creating birthday cards -- the [hero_product_link sku="SA072" text ="Sprinkles Stencil"]! It can be used on a card for a person of any age and you can easily change the look by the technique you use to stencil and the colors you choose. Today I've created a colorful background using some bright ink colors and [hero_product_link sku="MI002" text="sponge...

Hello and welcome! For the past several weeks we've been sharing projects made with our new Summer 2016 products, and you may have already found them at your favorite retailers. Today we are thrilled to be launching our new products right here in the Hero Arts store! We have a trio of fabulous cards from our creative team member Jayne Nelson to share with you. And at the end of...

New baby cards are pretty much my favorite type of cards to create; combining cute animal images with pretty papers and ribbons is just my style. So, for my card today, I decided to create a new baby card featuring the adorable [hero_product_link sku="Di180" text="Paper Layering Hedgehog Die"] which is available at retailers now, and will be arriving in our own store tomorrow. I just...

I love creating with Hero Arts Color Layering stamp sets and ombre inks as the colors of ink in these have been carefully selected and always work so great together for Color Layering (among other things). However, sometimes I want to alter the colors of the ink slightly, for example make the final image a bit lighter, but I don't always have the right shade...

Hi everyone! Tomorrow is National Scrapbooking Day, and we cannot let that go by without a little celebration! We have several exciting things to share with you today! First, we're having a sale this weekend on our wildly popular Clearly Kelly line by Kelly Purkey. Kelly loves to travel the globe and document her adventures, as well as add character to her everyday planning and journaling, and her...

Summer by far is one of my favorite seasons. I like the warm weather, and the cold homemade fruit beverages that I always crave. Today I am featuring a fun set that is all about these type of drinks and it is called [hero_product_link sku="CL960" text="Let's Get Fresh"]. What I like the most about this set, is that it includes lots of images and sentiments appropriate for cards and invitations....

Mass production, it's not something that I gravitate towards but sometimes it's super easy to accomplish the task. Have you looked through the Summer Catalog? The products are available at retailers and will hit the Hero Arts shop one week from today, on May 11th! Today I'm featuring the [hero_product_link sku="DI188" text="Fruit Salad Fancy Dies"]. I could easily be a fruitarian. I love fruit and I've...

One of my favorite things to do with detailed flower images is emboss them. It seems to be able to capture a little bit of that etherealness flowers have. I stamped the [hero_product_link sku="CL980" text="Happy Mother's Day"] flowers all over a piece of [hero_product_link sku="PS619" text="light purple cardstock"] using Versamark, then heat embossed them with [hero_product_link sku="PW118" text="White Satin Pearl embossing powder"]. This stuff looks so dreamy! I then stamped the...

Release day is here! We hope you’ve enjoyed all of the peeks leading up to today’s launch of our [hero_product_link sku="MH106" text="My Monthly Hero May 2016"] kit! Be sure to scroll down to the end of this post – we have an amazing list of bloggers joining us today as we introduce this kit. And another kit is up for grabs, too! This month's kit...

We loved spending our weekend with you, sharing our Countdown to Creativity! The launch of My Monthly Hero is only a few short hours away, and we’re super excited to share our May kit with you! As promised, we have one kit to giveaway to a lucky blog reader, selected from comments left on our Countdown to Creativity posts. We’ve randomly selected a comment from our Idea #7 post ~ congratulations...

Wow, what a weekend! We've shared a ton of inspiration for sharing kindness and saying thank you with our May My Monthly Hero kit! We are so excited for the launch tomorrow, May 2 at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific! We hope you'll join us then. But first, one more blog post, again from our fabulous Creative Team member Yana!  Thank You cards are among my favorites to make. A simple...

Remember to comment on this and every Countdown to Creativity post this weekend. We will be giving away a kit to one lucky reader before you can buy it! Comment on every post for more chances to win! We’ll announce the winner tomorrow morning, prior to the launch of the My Monthly Hero kit at 10am Eastern/10am Pacific on May 2. I have always been a fan of...

Welcome to our third and final day of sneak peeks of our May My Monthly Hero kit, leading up to the release tomorrow, May 2 at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific! We are so excited about our launch tomorrow, which will feature an amazing blog hop of some of our favorite artists, including another chance to win a free kit! But until then, be sure to comment on this and all...

Lucy joins us for today's final sneak peek of the May My Monthly Hero kit. We'll be back with more ideas tomorrow, leading up to the launch on Monday, May 2 at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific! Be sure to stop back by tomorrow - and visit all of the posts we've already shared, if you haven't already - we're giving away one kit before you can buy it, randomly drawn from...

Welcome back to our second post for the day! This post from Jayne is all about the original inspiration for this kit - Jennifer McGuire and Share Handmade Kindness. We partnered with Jennifer last fall to create products perfect for sharing an act of handmade kindness. These two products, [hero_product_link sku="CL911" text="Acts of Kindness"] and [hero_product_link sku="G6120" text="A Bit of Kindness"], pair perfectly with our May release. We donate 25% of...

Hello and welcome to another day of May My Monthly Hero ideas, leading up to the launch on Monday, May 2 at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific! Today Yana is joining us for another peek at the kit. Take it away, Yana! I believe that one can never be too kind to others and that kindness needs to be rewarded by saying Thank You or better yet, giving a simple Thank You card. The...

Kelly's back with her final idea of the day, another peek featuring the add-on stamp set that will be released with our May My Monthly Hero kit on Monday, May 2 at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific.  I have another project to share that uses the add-on [hero_product_link sku="CL981" text="Happy Mail"] stamp set, but this time I thought I'd show you how the images are great for cards as well as envelope...

Kelly's back with another look at our May My Monthly Hero release. This time she's giving us a peek at the add-on stamp set she designed to coordinate with the kit. Be sure to leave a comment to enter our drawing - we're giving away one kit on Monday morning, drawn from all of the comments left on our Countdown to Creativity posts. And come back on Monday,...

Hello and welcome! Today we begin the countdown to the launch of our May My Monthly Hero kit! Over the next three days we will be sharing several ideas for using this month's kit, leading up to the release on Monday, May 2 at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific. Be sure to visit every post and leave your comments - one lucky reader will win a kit before you can buy it! This month's...

Hi there! Today I'm sharing one of my cards that was featured in the 2016 Summer Catalog using the [hero_product_link sku="CL963" text="Color Layering Ice Cream"] set. I used a little bit different technique for the layering part and I love how it turned out! I started out by stamping the cone and two scoops of ice cream using Antique Linen Distress Ink. Then I used Zig Clean...

Yes, please to cake! It isn't a birthday unless there is cake! Today I'm featuring the [hero_product_link sku="CL941" text="Make A Wish Birthday"] set. The Hooray sentiment makes for a fun background with repetitive stamping. I used [hero_product_link sku="AF168" text="Soft Pink Shadow Ink"] which is a great contrast on the [hero_product_link sku="PS622" text="Foliage Layering Paper"]. I stamped the layered cake, blooms and cake plate on alternating  [hero_product_link sku="PS622" text="Foliage...

Whether it is someone's graduation or you just want to congratulate an accomplishment, greeting cards are always a fun way to express our excitement. Today I am sharing a card that I created using a woodblock stamp called [hero_product_link sku="H6128" text="Yay!"] along with [hero_product_link sku="AF241" text="Neon Inks"]. I began by creating the focal point. I stamped the sentiment with [hero_product_link sku="AF345" text="Intense Black Ink"]  over [hero_product_link sku="PS610" text="Snow...

One of my favorite techniques is creating a stamped background using small stamps. It's a great way to get more out of your neglected stamps. And here is what I came up with for today: To make a graduation card, I started by stamping small images from the following stamp sets: [hero_product_link sku="CL941"], [hero_product_link sku="CL954"], [hero_product_link sku="CL940"] and [hero_product_link sku="CL950"]. I used [hero_product_link sku="DI158"] to create dimensional cut paper design. This die has cut and...

Not only is it Friday (hooray!)...it's Earth Day too! This global holiday, established in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues, is near and dear to us here at Hero Arts. We are committed to producing only the best quality stamping products while reducing our impact on Mother Earth. As a Certified Green Business, we've won numerous environmental awards in our city, county and the...

One can never have too many Thank You cards on hand so I think its always a good idea to make one just in case. Today I'm sharing one in a black and white color combo. I rarely create monochromatic cards, but for this project I was inspired by a stamping mistake. I was experimenting and trying various color combinations to stamp several orchids from...

What's better than a cute [hero_product_link sku="DI160" text="Paper Layering Pineapple"] added to a card? A *glittery* [hero_product_link sku="DI160" text="Paper Layering Pineapple"]!! I had a piece of gold glitter cardstock lying on my desk, with my pineapple die nearby, and I just couldn't resist putting the two great things together! :) I had a little bit of trouble capturing just how much shimmer there is on this...

When I first saw the [hero_product_link sku="K6134" text="Mum Stem"] and [hero_product_link sku="K6133" text="Mum Flower"] stamps, the first thing that came to my mind was vintage wallpaper. With that idea in mind, I decided to create a quick and simple card trio. Aren't they so fun? You could use them as Mother's Day cards, or box them up and give them as a gift! I had so much fun playing around...