Hero Arts Memories

We hope you enjoyed our look back at the history of Hero Arts yesterday! Today we thought we'd share a few memories from our team - some of their first stamps, and how they "discovered" stamping and Hero Arts. We'll start with one of our longtime friends, Sally Traidman!

About 30 years ago (really???) I started working for HERO ARTS. I befriended some of the sales people at a trade show in NYC when I had my rubber stamp mail order business, MOSTLY HEARTS.  They loved some of the cards I showed them using their products and VOILA, I had a new job. I became a card designer and demo person at trade shows. Obviously I have amassed many of their stamps, but some of the REALLY old ones were donated in Michigan when we moved years ago. I dug into my archives and found what I could. You can see a random sampling. Pudgy Bear is by far the oldest (1985) followed by the carousel horse and rainbow. (1991) I also included some of the “trends” we had, shadow stamps, sketchy Artistic Drawings (by me), HeroKids, etc to name a few. I have many friends forever in the Hero team and many fun memories.

Fun stuff! Who remembers those colored labels on the stamps? And who had fun putting different outfits on the HeroKids?

Now let's hear from Jayne Nelson:

I started collecting Hero Arts wooden stamps almost twenty years ago, but for a few years, I was only a stamp collector, not a stamper. Then, in 1999, I inked up a few stamps for the first time when I purchased the beautiful sentiment set, Inspirational Messages (LL479). I continued to add stamps to my Hero Arts collection each year, like these wonderful floral stamps from 2001, Daisies (E2072) and Roses (E2073). However, I fell completely head-over-heels for all things Hero Arts when I purchased the timeless, ribbon and stitching stamp set, Ribbons (LL992) in 2005. As someone who adores bows and textiles, I couldn't resist the undeniable charm of this wonderful set and it remains one of my most cherished and well-loved "vintage" sets today.

Jayne has been a longtime user of our Hero Arts Flickr Pool, and that's where we discovered Clare Prezzia, too:

I distinctly remember entering this card into one of the Hero Arts catalog release party contests. I wasn't much of a stamper at that point (I used to almost totally rely on patterned paper - can you believe it?!), and while I was proud that I finally colored my first image for a card, I didn't really think the card had too much of a chance of winning anything. Imagine my surprise when I found out the card made Honorable Mention! As fun as that was (and the doily stamp Hero Arts kindly sent me later), the best part was all the sweet comments everyone in the Flickr group left me. That one experience - awesome stamps and an amazing stamping community - was what eventually turned me into a lifelong Hero Arts stamper.

Have you ever wondered how our good friend Jennifer McGuire began stamping? Watch the video she shared in this recent post and hear her story, too! (And learn an extremely fabulous technique at the same time!)

We enjoyed the stories some of you shared yesterday, and would love to hear more! Share you first stamp or Hero Arts memories in the comments below!

Here's to another 42+ years of stamping!