Hero Arts Blog

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 -...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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!...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

Yesterday someone was asking me about my favorite color. I stopped what I was doing at that moment to think about it. Well, I came to the conclusion that I don't have a favorite one, just because I love many colors, specially the ones that make me feel happy. Yellow is one of those. Today I am featuring a pretty stamp set called [hero_product_link sku="CL953"...

Hello! Today I'm sharing a pair of cards that I made with two of my favorite things - spring colors and a beautiful floral stencil. Have you seen the new [hero_product_link sku="SA068" text="Bold Daisy Stencil"] yet? I've used it with two, beautiful trios of ink colors, to create bold and colorful backgrounds for each of my springtime designs. I hope that you love this tried-and-true...

Have you checked out the background stamps? Today I'm featuring the [hero_product_link sku="S6144" text="Wave Pattern"]. I only used a portion of the image rather than the entire design: I inked up the [hero_product_link sku="S6144" text="Wave Pattern"] with [hero_product_link sku="AF310" text="Mint Julep to Emerald Green Ombre Ink"] and while it was sitting face up, I placed my Snow card stock panel directly onto the inked stamp....

Hello stampers! We have just taken a stroll through the most lovely flower garden and can't wait to share the beauty with you all. Thank you to everyone who entered the Fabulous Flowers Challenge! With so many fabulous entries, judging was super difficult. We have chosen a few of our favorite cards and are ready to announce the winners. First up, it’s Char, with this...

We hope you’ve enjoyed spending your weekend with 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 March kit with you! As promised, we have one kit to giveaway to a lucky blog reader. We’ve randomly selected a comment from our Idea #4 post ~ congratulations to Karen Link! Karen...

We hope you’ve enjoyed all of the peeks leading up to today’s launch of our [hero_product_link sku="MH104" text="My Monthly Hero March 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 a couple of wonderful prizes, too! (Note: This giveaway is now closed.) This month's...