Hero Arts Blog

Last week we shared sneak peeks all week, leading up to the reveal of our 2016 Summer Catalog today! You can flip through our new catalog page by page by visiting our landing page HERE. Retailers are already excited about the new designs, and we think you will be, too! We loved reading all of your comments during our sneak peeks last week! Here are the lucky winners from...

Here we are, at Day 5 of 2016 Summer Catalog sneak peek week! We hope you've enjoyed all the new goodies we've shared, and you're as excited about our new catalog as we are! Today we are sharing some of the new stamps from the "Adventure" section of the catalog. We love to get out in the great outdoors during the summer, and these products...

Hi there! We're popping in this afternoon to announce a giveaway winner from our April My Monthly Hero launch. Thanks so much to everyone who participated, checked out the cards on the designers' blogs, left lovely comments, and made this month's kit a smashing success! The winner is Miriam Prantner, who commented on Joan Bardee's blog: "Great design with those petals and leaves peeking out of the top of...

Calling all hipsters! Today's sneak peek from the 2016 Summer Catalog features our "trend" section of the catalog. Records, pipes, mustaches, coffee? Yes, please! The record and pipe images pictured above are part of a super fun stamp set called CL957 Hipster at Heart - a collection of all of our favorite hipster icons. Another great new set is CL948 Dapper Dad, perfect for those hard-to-make masculine cards, especially ones for...

We have been enjoying all of your wonderful comments on our previous two days of 2016 Summer Catalog sneak peeks - welcome to Day 3! Today we're showing the latest additions to our popular line of Paper Layering dies! In the 2016 Summer Catalog, we've added four new Paper Layering dies - pictured above are DI180 Paper Layering Hedgehog, DI181 Paper Layering Daisy and DI187 Paper Layering Palm Tree. The fourth die not pictured is DI182...

Welcome to Day 2 of our 2016 Summer Catalog sneak peeks! The catalog will be revealed on Monday, April 18. Every day this week we will share a different photo from our new catalog, as well as an opportunity to win a $25 shopping spree in the Hero Arts store! We are so excited about the fun woodblock stamps in today's post! We are calling them our "Destination" stamps. We've...

Hello and welcome! This week we are sharing sneak peeks of the new 2016 Summer Catalog, leading to the catalog reveal on Monday, April 18! Every day this week we will share a different photo from our new catalog, as well as an opportunity to win a $25 shopping spree in the Hero Arts store! Our first peek is all about Color Layering! There are three new Color Layering sets in this...

Hello, today I'm sharing a trio of small garden notebooks and nature journals. I love the idea of recording annual garden inspiration, plans, expenses, and plant information in a small pocket notebook. I also love the idea of documenting, with small sketches and written descriptions, seasonal observations about nature. These mini-journals are the perfect size for quickly recording ideas and experiences for future reference. To...

Trends that are popular in clothing and home decor often carry over into the crafting world. Today I'm inspired by all the copper that is showing up in home decor and furnishings, so I've created a card that features our [hero_product_link sku="PW116" text ="Copper Embossing Powder"]. I've used it three different ways on this card -- can you spot all of them? I started out...

Today I'm sharing a baby card.  I'm a huge fan of gender neutral colors, how about you? Let's start from the bottom and work up. The fun [hero_product_link sku="CG687" text="Alphabet Soup Bold Prints"] is a great base for a baby card. I inked it up with [hero_product_link sku="AF207" text="Butter Bar Shadow Ink"]. The [hero_product_link sku="A6152" text="Little Turtle"] and [hero_product_link sku="A6153" text="Little Hippo"] are so cute stamped in the...

Hello. Today I am sharing a simple ombre card, created with the gorgeous Foliage Bold Prints stamp. To create my card, I first stamped the Foliage Bold Prints on white cardstock with Ombre Lime to Forever Green Ink. Next, I splattered the panel with green watercolor paint to create a more messy and natural look. Once dry, I stamped the Happy Birthday Script on top with Black Ink. I made sure to stamp the sentiment on...

Release day is here! We hope you’ve enjoyed all of the peeks leading up to today’s launch of our My Monthly Hero April 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! For this month's kit, we've combined a gorgeous...

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 April 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 #3...

We hope you've enjoyed our weekend packed with inspiration, leading up to tomorrow's My Monthly Hero release. We're back with one final countdown post to finish off the weekend. The main kit will feature the stamps and watercolors you've been seeing all weekend. But in addition, we will have an optional stamp set and matching dies available, too! Several of you mentioned in the comments this weekend that...

We hope you've been enjoying this weekend's countdown to the April My Monthly Hero release! We're only one day away - the kit goes live in the Hero Arts store at 1pm eastern/10am pacific on Monday, April 4th! This morning Kelly joins us for some gorgeous ideas for using this kit... While the images in this kit are perfect for coloring they also stand out with some simple white embossing....

Hello again, kit lovers! This afternoon, Sally is back with a few more ideas for using this month's fabulous My Monthly Hero kit. Sally always loves to find unique ways to use her stamps, and we really love what she came up with today... For my first card, I used washi tape to block off squares, and filled them in with bits of stamps. Add extra color to...

Hello and welcome to another day of April My Monthly Hero ideas, leading up to the launch on Monday, April 4 at 1pm eastern/10am pacific! Today Lucy is joining us for another peek at the kit. Take it away, Lucy! The Daniel Smith watercolour dot sheet in this month's kit contains a gorgeous selection of colors. For my card today, I chose Quinacridone Violet - a lovely soft pinky-purple tone....

We're back with a few more ideas for the April My Monthly Hero kit! The kit launches on Monday, April 4 at 1pm eastern/10am pacific. Judging by your comments left so far on our previous post, it sounds like you are already in love with this month's kit! Yay! The next set of ideas come from our very own Sally Traidman. When you give new stamps to Sally, she goes...

It's time for another My Monthly Hero countdown! The April kit will launch on Monday, April 4 at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific. Continue to stop by our blog throughout the weekend for a bunch of fabulous ideas from our team for using our gorgeous new kit. And comment on each and every countdown post - we'll giveaway one kit before you can buy it to one lucky blog reader, pulled...

Hello. Today I have a trio of cards to share with you, each one combining 3x3" clear sets from our Lia Griffith collection with simple watercoloring. My first card features the Enjoy Fruit by Lia set, along with a sentiment from Spring Hello by Lia. For this card, I stamped the fruits on some watercolor paper with Versamark, added White Embossing Powder and heat set. Then I painted the fruits and background. Next, I stamped and...

Interactive cards are something new to me, but very appealing. By adding a little movable mechanism to a project one can really take it to a whole new level and create that WOW effect for the recipient. Today I'm sharing an interactive spinner We Moved card using fun [hero_product_link sku="CL951" text="Town Essentials stamp set"]. [hero_product_link sku="CL951" text="Town Essentials stamp set"] is a great set filled with lots of...

Are you a fan of butterfly? To be honest, I'm not. But I really wanted to play with Butterfly Pair Stamp & Cut as it includes very interesting dies in the set. I started by stamping the butterfly images from Butterfly Pair Stamp & Cut and Mason Jar Bugs  to create my own background. Here are the Bold Ink pads I used for my colored stamping: Tangerine, Mulled Wine, Strawberry, Dandelion and Summer Sky. Then I colored the images...

I love when I have stamps that can be colored using any of your favorite coloring techniques. Today's card features a pair of pretty stamps called [hero_product_link sku="G6130" text="Potted Succulent"] and [hero_product_link sku="E6140" text="Small Potted Succulent"], as well as their matching [hero_product_link sku="DI174" text="Frame Cuts"]. Please watch my video below where I shared how I made this card from start to finish. [fve]https://youtu.be/pMS4F1AueRw[/fve] If you are having problems viewing this video, please try...

I'm always pretty pleased when I can complete a card that has texture and is still postal friendly. Have you tried out any of the Paper Layering Dies? Check out the oh-so-fun [hero_product_link sku="DI160" text="Paper Layering Pineapple"]: One of the many beauties of these dies...the awesome texture. It literally makes the card for you. The watercoloring on the top layer took no time at all. I...

The [hero_product_link sku="CL952" text="Hipster Animals"] can be used for so many different occasions - I used them to create a spring card here, and customized a sentiment to go with it. When creating this card, it's best to build the wreath first, and then stamp the bunny. That way it's perfectly centered. Stamping the bunny first, and then the wreath? A bit harder to center...

Hello, or rather, Bonjour! Ernest Hemingway famously said, "There are only two places in the world where we can live happy: at home and in Paris." Although I've never been to Paris, I imagine myself traveling there every time that I use the beautiful [hero_product_link sku="H5984" text="Eiffel Tower"] stamp. Today, I'm sharing a French inspired thank-you card that I made featuring this iconic Paris monument....

I love working with tiny stamps, so today I am showing you two ways to use our [hero_product_link sku="LP398" text="Flower Garden Mini Tub"], which is full of small blooms perfect for spring! Just find a bunch of inks and white paper, and start playing. I randomly stamped the flowers in a pleasing flower collage. I decided I wanted to make this an Easter card, so I stamped the bunny...

Hello and happy Monday! Most of the time I make birthday cards with a specific recipient in mind. I like to personalize the card with certain colors or images that I think they might like. But sometimes those birthdays sneak up on me and I just don't have the time. In that case I like to have a stash of generic birthday cards on hand...

Our friend Ilina Crouse is back again today, sharing more inspiration using the March My Monthly Hero kit. Ilina purchased her kit as soon as it was available, and has already enjoyed creating a bunch of cards. She's shared several here on our blog this weekend - but also visit Ilina's blog to watch a video where she shows you all of the kit contents! There are still a few...

This weekend we are joined by special guest Ilina Crouse, with ideas for using the March My Monthly Hero kit! The kit and add-ons are still available, but quantities are very limited. Add them to your stamping collection before they are gone forever! For my first card I was inspired by the current trend of adult coloring books, and this flower reminded me of them. I repetitively stamped a flower from the...

You've been asking us for new blog blinkies for quite a while now, and we are here to make you happy! We have four adorable new blinkies to choose from - grab one to add to your blog sidebar, or grab them all! Simply right click on the image and select "save image as". It will save as a .gif file, which you can then add to...

Today's card features two stamps I think are absolutely awesome - the gorgeous new [hero_product_link sku="K6135" text="Antique Rose"] stamp from the 2016 Catalog, and one of my all-time favorite sentiments, the aptly-named [hero_product_link sku="G6071" text="Absolutely Awesome"]! I stamped the [hero_product_link sku="K6135" text="rose"] with [hero_product_link sku="AF345" text="Intense Black"] ink. It's perfect for using with my Copic markers, as it's alcohol ink-friendly. The [hero_product_link sku="CG689" text="leafy background"]...

Hello! Where do you draw your inspiration from? It's not usual for me, but this time I got inspired by the colors from the [hero_product_link sku="AF329" text="Neon Chartreuse to Blue ombre ink pad"] for today's card. I wanted to create a soft and lovely look with watercolors, featuring the [hero_product_link sku="CG687" text="alphabet background"] and [hero_product_link sku="CL940" text="Balloon Animal Birthday"] stamps. And here is what I came up with:...

Hello. Today I am sharing a fun card that I created with the cute Lunch Box Notes stamps and dies and a selection of Shadow Inks. To make this card, I first stamped the happy little bugs randomly on white card with Lime Green, Green Hills, Tide Pool, Mint Julep and Mint to Green Ombre inks. Next, I stamped the sentiments onto another piece of white card. I combined stamps from Spring Hello by Lia and Love...

Heat embossing can be tricky at times and making one wrong "move" can ruin your entire project. I'd like to share 2 simple ways I like to use to fix heat embossing mistakes (and the actual mistakes I made when making a card) in this blog post and video. I often struggle with getting a perfect heat embossed image. I like to do heat embossing over...