Hero Arts 45th Anniversary Blog Hop - Day 1

Hello and welcome! Today we are celebrating two wonderful things - the release of the 2019 Summer Catalog products in our shop, and the fact that Hero Arts has been sharing the love of stamping for 45 years! If you've been following along on this blog and our social media channels, you know we've been celebrating for the past month. We hope you've enjoyed all of the Flashback Fridays, and we've certainly enjoyed seeing your Show & Tell entries!

The 2019 Summer Catalog celebrates our 45 years in business. Take a trip back through the decades, with classic red rubber designs curated into beautiful new clear stamp sets. Also, best selling woodblock stamps from yesteryear have returned "from the vault" with special, limited edition labeling. We're excited to be introducing a fresh, new line of Reactive Inks in gorgeous, vibrant colors. We think you'll enjoy thumbing through the catalog to see how our company has evolved over the years!

It wouldn't be a celebration without party guests, now would it? We've gathered together some of our industry friends to help us get the party started. And for you, our most honored guests, we've pulled together amazing prizes - more than $1400 in prizes in all! Our celebration will extend for three days - be sure to visit every day through Friday for inspiration, stories and of course a chance to win prizes from these wonderful sponsors:

Here's a look at the prizes up for grabs. Winners will be selected from all comments left across the entire hop over the three days.

• Hero Arts: 3 $145 Gift Certificates, 3 $45 Gift Certificates
• Altenew: $50 Gift Certificate
• Art Impressions: $25 Gift Certificate
• Ellen Hutson LLC: $50 Gift Certificate
• Gina K: $100 Gift Certificate
• Jennifer McGuire Ink: $100 Hero Arts Gift Certificate, 5 Share Handmade Kindness goodie bags
• Laurie Willison: 2 Card Hanger Dies
• Lawn Fawn: $50 Gift Certificate
• My Sweet Petunia: 1 Prize Bundle (Original MISTI, a set of Creative Corners, a Cut-Align, and a bar magnet)
• Online Card Classes: 5 spots in the Stamp Happy In Good Company: Hero Arts class
• Pink Fresh Studio: $45 Gift Certificate
• Scrapbook & Cards Today: 3 copies of Scrapbook & Cards Today Summer 2019 Issue
• Scrapbook.com: $50 Gift Certificate
• Simon Says Stamp: $50 Gift Certificate

Before we begin the blog hop, let's start with some card inspiration from our artists. First up, Kelly Rasmussen, combining our new Reactive Inks with some adorable stamps "from the vault"!

Hi there! I'm thrilled to be here today to help showcase the awesome new Reactive Inks! 

Before I started with my background, I stamped the adorable From the Vault Bear and Kitty image onto watercolor paper using Intense Black Ink. Then I stamped it again onto masking paper, trimmed it out and placed it over the image on the watercolor paper.

Next, I used Berry Smoothie, Blue Hawaii and Blue Raspberry Reactive Inks to create the background. I put some ink on a craft mat, spritzed it with water and then used a Water Flow Brush to paint the background. These inks blend together beautifully creating new colors as they overlap each other!

Once the panel was dry, I removed the mask and stamped my sentiment from the Stamped Just For You clear stamp set using Intense Black Ink. Then I mounted the panel to a top-folding card base made from Periwinkle Premium Cardstock.

Thanks Kelly for the adorable card! For more detailed information about the Reactive Inks, Jessica Frost-Ballas has put together a helpful video. Take a look!

And now it's time to hop! Here's today's list, including our wonderful Creative Team, past team members, and some great industry friends.

Commenting on all of the blogs within the hop will give you more chances to win! Comment by Sunday, June 2 at 11:59pm Pacific, and we will announce the winners on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

We hope you enjoyed all of this wonderful inspiration, and tune in again tomorrow for Day 2 of our anniversary celebration!