The Winter 2016 Products are HERE! + Blog Hop & Giveaway!

Hello and welcome! The day we've been anxiously awaiting is finally here!  You may have already found them at your favorite retailers. Today we are thrilled to be launching our new 2016 Winter Catalog products right here in the Hero Arts store!

(Update: Check out our post highlighting the new additions to our Clearly Kelly line HERE, too!)

We have projects to share today from Creative Team member Jayne Nelson and Hero Artist Sally Traidman. And at the end of the post, we’ve gathered together an amazing blog hop to inspire you, featuring some of our favorite artists! And of course, a chance to enter our giveaway!

First up is Jayne:

Hi, I am so excited to be sharing a holiday card today that I made with several new items from the Winter Catalog - I hope that you love these new products as much as I do! To create my card, I started by securing the fun [hero_product_link sku="SA078" text="Forest Scene Stencil"] to a panel of watercolor paper and then I carefully applied blue and green distress inks over the center of the stencil. Using a small paintbrush, I lightly splattered the background with some water to create the illusion of falling snow.

Then, I stamped a small collection of winter images from the new [hero_product_link sku="CM101" text="Vintage Wishes"] stamp set with [hero_product_link sku="AF234" text="navy"] ink. This delightful stamp set contains twelve images - trees, snowflakes, script, a snowman, a deer, and several sentiments that can all be used to create both vintage and modern card designs. I used the matching [hero_product_link sku="DI313" text="Vintage Wishes Frame Cuts"] to easily cut around each detailed image. I clustered the die cut images along the lower edge of the card and adhered them with foam tape.

Next, I [hero_product_link sku="PW110" text="embossed"] the word "joy" from the wonderful, new [hero_product_link sku="CM100" text="Christmas Messages"] stamp set onto a circle of cardstock layered over vellum and then added the sentiment to the card with foam tape. Before securing the panel to my [hero_product_link sku="PS640" text="card base"], I stamped some [hero_product_link sku="CM101" text="script"] onto the lower right corner. I finished the card with some scattered, [hero_product_link sku="CH117" text="clear gemstones"] and a lengthy, satin bow.

And now let's see what Sally created for us today!

For today's project I decided to create an Advent calendar! I thought the new [hero_product_link sku="CL999" text="Holiday Mittens"] would make adorable little windows. I stamped the mittens in a random fashion in various colors of ink (I reached for the bold and neon inks, I like happy colors!). I then die cut [hero_product_link sku="DI301" text="Classic Numbers Frame Cuts"] in contrasting colors. I cannot even tell you how excited I am about these number dies! It's something I've been wanting, and I'm so happy to have them to play with now!

I cut around the mittens with an exacto knife, allowing for a “hinged door”. You may be able to do this with the [hero_product_link sku="di319" text="coordinating mitten dies"] with some strategic die-cutting, but my handy exacto knife did the trick for me. Although I'm not gonna lie, it took me a while! I attached the finished countdown calendar to a red backing sheet. Now I can add any messages or surprises inside and give this to my grandkids. Maybe some coins in some of the slots would be fun?

And now it’s time to hop!! Be sure to visit each blog on the list and leave your comments – we will be giving away three $25 shopping sprees to the Hero Arts Online Store, drawn from comments left across all blogs in the hop. Please comment by Sunday, August 28 at 11:59pm PT and we’ll announce the winner the following week.

The Hero Arts Blog (you are here!)
Jennifer McGuire
Kathy Racoosin
Wanda Guess
Lydia Fiedler
Alice Wertz
Amy Tan
Cheiron Brandon
Debbie Olson
Laura Bassen
Debby Hughes
Heather Ruwe
Ilina Crouse
Isha Gupta
Jenn Shurkus
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Joan Bardee
Karin Akesdotter
Yana Smakula
Kelly Rasmussen
Amy Tsuruta
Clare Prezzia
Mariana Grigsby
May Sukyong Park
Libby Hickson

Visit the Hero Arts store to find all of the products featured in today’s hop. Happy hopping and happy shopping!!