Flashback Friday Part 4: The 2000s
Our 45th Anniversary Flashback Friday series continues and this week we're throwing it back to the 2000s! Here is CEO Aaron Leventhal to share some of the decade's highlights:
"The 2000s were exciting years for Hero Arts and the stamping industry. Scrapbooking, after years of shunning stamps, began to embrace the idea of stamping on pages. This lead to themed collections, photography in catalogs that featured pages, working with scrapbook artists like Jennifer McGuire, and more. It also was an exciting time for new designs, as Hero Arts begin to turn towards 'realistic elegance,' a big change from the colorful and cutesy of the 1990s. Hero Arts introduced Shadow Stamps (2000), Poetic Prints wood sets, including etched flowers (2000), Shadow Ink (2001), Clear sets (2005), and Cling (2008, re-introduced). Hero Arts also first introduced the Color Layering technique (2001)."
Perhaps you remember some of these catalogs from the 2000s...
The Color Layering technique was developed by the Hero Arts artists, including Shari Carroll. Color Layering included both the current technique of stamping in layers, but at that time without clear stamps it often meant inking or partially inking a wood stamp and stamping over a stamped image. It also included the "blowing in the wind" style of stamping with "layering" inks on the rubber (without cleaning) to get different color effects. This technique sheet features Color Layering with the popular Real Flowers.
Shadow Stamps and Poetic Prints woodblock sets were stylish staples in the stamper's toolbox!
Another exciting thing was happening throughout the decade - the web was growing by leaps and bounds! Hero Arts as a website was actually first launched in the previous decade, in January of 1996, as you can see from this early image.
This is how the website would have looked if you clicked over in 2004. We hosted contests in which stampers would mail their cards into Hero Arts.
Some of you may remember when we launched the Hero Arts Blog in March of 2008. The image below shows what the website looked like during the early days of the blog. Does anyone remember the weekly challenges hosted by the Hero Artists? The owl mascot was always a hoot...and a great cheerleader!
Did you enter any of our contests and challenges? Let us know in a comment below and we will pick one winner at random to receive a $25 Hero Arts gift card! Comment by Thursday, May 16 at 11:59pm PT and you'll be entered to win.
Thanks for traveling back in time with us today. Happy weekend and happy stamping!
I have entered several of your contests, but am still hoping to be chosen. Not feeling enough confidence to enter your challenges. I still own most if not all of the catalogs you have shown here as well as the stamps featured in these catalogs. HA has always been one of my favorite companies. Here’s to the next 45 years of keeping stampers happy!
I’ve only been stamping since 2017, so I didn’t enter any contests/challenges in the 2000s. I do sometimes enter your current challenges. It has been fascinating to learn about the history of your company, I’m still amazed that stamps have been around longer than I’ve been alive. Thanks for sharing these ‘blasts from the past’.
I was one of those scrapbookers who shunned stamps in the early 2000’s. I finally decided to try card making around 2010 because it seemed silly not to with all the paper supplies I had on hand. That led me to stamping and now I combine stamping and die cutting in both scrapbooking and card making. I didn’t enter challenges back then. I didn’t even know much about Hero Arts but now I am a loyal kit subscriber and buy Hero stamps in stores and on line. Congrats on being able to change and adapt to the challenging changes in this industry. My creative pursuits have benefited because of your products and innovations. Thank you Hero Arts!
Unfortunately I hadn’t taken up stamping as of yet so I hadn’t entered any challenges. It’s interesting to see how far the company has evolved over the years. Loved the cute owl from the early blog.
These flashbacks have been so much fun! I didn’t take part in any challenges at that time. I still haven’t, but really need to get myself organized so that I can.