Hero Hostess Reunion Blog Hop!

Welcome to Day 2 of our Hop, featuring stamps from the new 2016 release and Winter Catalog!  

From 2009 - 2012, Hero Arts put together classes of 4 to 8 "Hero Hostesses" for a 4-month term.  Our job was to make people feel welcome in the Hero Arts Flickr group, and to contribute our work using Hero Arts stamps.  There ended up being 36 of us before the program was discontinued, and as we were a kind of crafting sorority, we coined "sista" as the name we called each other.  I treasure these ladies, and have a soft spot in my heart for each of them and Hero Arts.  I am so excited to be reunited with my Hostess sisters again this year, and I thank Hero Arts for enabling this reunion!  

You should have arrived here from the amazing Kathy Racoosin's blog.  If you want to start from the beginning of today's hop, just visit the Hero Arts Blog to get our lineup. 

I love their birds this year, so I chose 2 bird sets, Vintage Christmas Post and Color Layering Cardinal, and made 2 cards with each set.

supplies: white and red cardstock, Hero Arts Vintage Christmas Post, Ombre Green, Wet Cement, old paper, and Onyx Black inks, Joy Stamp & Cut die and matching stamps

I love the faint script in this set and stamped it randomly all over my panel before adding my other elements.  I used my mini Misti and Jennifer McGuire's tutorial for mirror stamping to make a 2nd cardinal, and then colored them as a male and female.  We always see cardinal couples together at our feeders, and they add such lovely color to our dull winters!  

My 2nd card with this set is much more CAS in design.  I paired it with one of my all-time Hero Arts sentiment sets, which is sadly retired.  When you listen to cardinals outside, "Cheer, Cheer, Cheer" is one of their songs, so I thought this sentiment was a good one.

supplies: white and red cardstock, Vintage Christmas Post, (retired) Miracle of the Holidays sentiment, Punch ink, evergreen bough distress ink, snowflake stencil and modelling paste, Prisma glitter, adhesive foam squares

My next cards use the fabulous Color Layering Cardinal.

supplies: white and green cardstock, acetate panel, watercolor wash design paper, Hero Arts Color Layering Cardinal and Beauty of the Season woodblock stamp, schoolhouse red, fired brick, and aged mahogany inks, pine branch die, Winter Flurry snowflake embossing folder, sparkling clear sequins, adhesive foam squares

Isn't this multi-step stamp amazing?  And it's not hard at all to line everything up.  I used 3 different red inks and my misti to stamp him, then fussy-cut him and set him aside.  Starting with a white card folded at the top, I trimmed and added a blue watercolor wash design paper.  Next I embossed a piece of acetate with the snowflake folder, trimmed it, leaving about an inch at the top, scored it close to the design, and then secured it to the card with double-stick tape on the back.  To finish I cut the pine branches and stamped and trimmed my sentiment, and added them to the front of the card over the acetate.  And lastly the cardinal was popped above everything else, and I sprinkled on a few sequins for sparkle.  I think this sentiment would work for all seasons, not just for winter/Christmas!

I liked the way the snowflakes looked with him, so I made another card using the same embossing folder, and this time I used more of the accessory stamps in the set, and added a woodgrain panel. 

supplies: white cardstock, board dp, Hero Arts Color Layering Cardinal stamp set and Joy die, Pale Tomato, Red Royal, and Raspberry Jam red inks, Ombre green ink, Winter Flurry embossing folder, adhesive foam squares

Hero Arts is offering TWO $25.00 shopping sprees to our hop readers!  One will be chosen from those who comment on the blogs along yesterday's hop and one from those in today's hop, and there will also be a bonus prize chosen from comments left at the Hero Arts blog on each day!  The more commenting you do, the better your chances - deadline for commenting is Sunday, Oct. 30, by 11:59 pm Pacific time.

Now it's time to hop on over to my friend Linda Wetterlin's blog - I know you'll love what she's made for today!  

Here's the list for today's hop, in case you get lost:

Donna Mikasa

Cheiron Brandon

Kathy Wade

Anita Recksiedler

Barb Engler

Kathy Racoosin

Lin Brandyberry  - that's me!

Linda Wetterlin

Sally Sherfield

Deborah Nolan

Cathy Andronicou

Hero Arts Blog

Kathy's 30 Day Coloring Challenge with Hero Arts Friends

Welcome to a blog hop as part of Kathy's 30 Day Coloring Challenge!  Kathy loves to color, and she is hosting her FIFTH coloring challenge!  The premise of the challenge is to color something every day, even if it's for five minutes - it doesn't matter what you color or what medium you use.  

From 2009 - 2012, Hero Arts put together classes of 4 to 8 "Hero Hostesses" for a 4-month term.  Our job was to make people feel welcome in the Hero Arts Flickr group, and to contribute our work using Hero Arts stamps.  There ended up being 36 of us before the program was discontinued, and as we were a kind of crafting sorority,  Kathy was the one who coined "sista" as the name we called each other.  We have had loads of fun together, meeting up in real life many times.  I treasure each of these ladies, and have a soft spot in my heart for each of them and Hero Arts.

Fast forward to 2016.  Kathy has asked us, along with some special guests, to participate in a blog hop for her current Coloring Challenge.  And Hero Arts has generously contributed TWO $25.00 shopping sprees, chosen from all those who comment!!

You should have come from my friend Virginia Lu's blog, Yes, Virginia.  If you are just happening across my blog today, and want to see the blog hop order, you can start at Kathy's blog, The Daily Marker. 

Here's the card I made, using a Hero Arts stamp that was introduced about the time I was a Hostess in 2009.  Sadly, it's retired now.  I paired it with some pretty plaid design paper and added a felt and button flower:

supplies: white, dark rose, and a gold shimmer cardstock, Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid dp, Hero Arts Wallpaper Flower woodblock stamp, K5185, Spectrum Noir markers to color, Wink of Stella clear marker, Simon Says Stamp Painted Hugs die, My Favorite Things Flashy Florals flower die, leaf die from Simon's Single Roses die set, Taylored Expressions Cotton Candy and Split Pea felt, yellow button, Scrapbook Adhesives foam squares

I've been hoarding this pretty plaid, but this occasion is a special one, so I pulled the colors from it to color my stamped panel, and my medium of choice was alcohol markers.

Hero Arts is giving away TWO $25.00 shopping sprees, randomly selected from the blog comments along the hop.  You have a week to comment, until July 18, at 12:00 midnight, and the winners will be announced July 19 on Kathy's blog.

Now, hop on over to Kathy Wade's blog, Wading in Creativity.  Enjoy, and we hope that you'll play along in Kathy's Coloring challenge, too!  Feel free to jump in anytime from now until August 5  - everyone is welcome!  You don't even have to make a card, just do some coloring and have fun with it!

2015 Hero Hostess Blog Hop!

Welcome to Day 1 of the 2015 edition of the Hero Hostess Blog Hop, featuring the newest releases from Hero Arts!  My Hosti sisters and I are delighted to be getting together again to show you some of the new stamps from the 2015 Spring Catalog!  You should have arrived here today from my sweet friend Donna Mikasa's blog, three umbrellas.  Her cards are always on trend and pretty, too!

I received 2 new stamps that are right up my alley, and decided to concentrate on those for the hop, making 2 cards from each one.

The first set is called Butterfly and Flowers Stamp & Cut, and it has a variety of stamps, plus 2 dies that can be used in conjunction with them.  All of the stamps have stitching details in them, which is a darling element, as are the button centers in the flowers!  Here are my cards using that set:

I used the flower and butterfly dies to cut out those elements,  fussy-cut the second flower, and added some stitched doodling as the trail of my butterfly.  The sentiment is part of the set, also.  

I had so much fun coloring the flowers that I just colored and die-cut lots more of them and arranged them around my sentiment from an older set, Made with Love, that seems to go with these warm colors.  And I sprinkled some sequins for a little sparkle.

My next cards use the pretty cling stamp called Tropical Background.  

It was stamped on an aqua cardstock with Grass ink.  My sentiment is from Dauber Bunch, stamped in Splash ink, and I added some peacock sequins to this one.

And for my last card, I stamped the Tropical Background on 2 different colors of cardstock, tone on tone, then trimmed out a panel,  stamped it with a simple sentiment (from Hello Sunshine Daisies), framed it in white, and added it to the first panel, matching up the overall pattern.

Hero Arts will be giving away prizes from randomly drawn comments on our blogs. For a chance to win, simply comment on any of the stops along the hop on any day, including each day's starting post at the Hero Club Blog.  The more comments you make, the better your chances of winning!

If you find a broken link, there's a master list of the links at the Hero Arts Club Blog.  We'd appreciate it if you'd report any broken links to blog@heroarts.com.

Now please hop along to the last stop for today, at the talented Sally Sherfield's blog, Created by Sally.  I know you'll love her designs for today!  And I'll see you again over at the Hero Arts blog tomorrow morning, where we'll start again with another 8 of my sisters!  

2014 Hero Hostess Blog Hop!

Welcome to Day 2 of the 2014 edition of the Hero Hostess Catalog Blog Hop!  My 23 alumnae Hosti sisters and I are so excited to be able to get together again to show you some of the new stamps from this new 2014 Catalog!  You should have arrived here today from my friend Judy Jung's blog, Livin' the Dream.

All of my cards today use the new cling stamp set called Forever.  It is a fantastic set with such pretty elements!

For my first card, I used the flower and one of the sentiments, and paired them up with a piece of Earth Designer Paper and a strip of Tide Layering Paper.  I stamped the sentiment in Latte chalk ink, and added some pink pearls

For my next card I wanted to use this sweet bird on a branch motif from the set.  I inked it up in shabby shutters ink, then used a tumbled glass distress marker to color over the bird before stamping it onto white cardstock.  I used the same marker to ink my sentiment also.  I went back in after stamping and added some shadows with some colored pencils.  My papers this time are Pool and Shallows layering papers.

And for my final card I inked up this pretty panel with Cornflower Blue mid-tone ink and stamped it onto my card base, adding the sentiment stamped in Navy mid-tone ink.  I thought it needed just a little something, so I smooshed a bit of the cornflower ink on an acrylic block, spritzed it well with water, and then dipped a paint brush in and flicked it to make some splatters.

Hero Arts will be giving away 3 big prize packs containing an assortment of brand new products from the 2014 Catalog from randomly-drawn comments on our blogs.  For a chance to win, simply comment on any of the stops along the hop on any day, including each day's starting post at the Hero Club Blog.  The more comments you make, the better your chances of winning!

If you find a broken link, there's a master list of links at the Hero Club Blog.  I'm your last blog to visit for today, but please start again tomorrow at the Hero Club Blog for a new list of 4 more of my Hostess sisters' blogs.   I'll see you then!

Summer Picnic Blog Hop!

I am so excited, as are my Hosti sisters, to be a part of another of our Hero Hostess Blog Hops!  We had so much fun last January that we decided to do it all over again this summer, using as our theme Summer Picnic! The Hop began on Monday, and we've set a nice easy pace of 4 or 5 blogs each day, so you can take your time all this week.  Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments.   For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the Hop on ANY day, including each day's starting post at the Hero Club Blog.  The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!  And I've added a little giveaway of my own, see more below.

You should have arrived today from Arlene's blog.  If you just happened across me and would like to start at the beginning, go to the Hero Arts Club blog, where you'll find the line-up for today.   Our fearless leader, Deborah, has been writing some hysterical posts there each day that you won't want to miss!  If you find a broken link, please report it to: blog@heroarts.com.  Let's get started!

I knew immediately what I'd make.......a jar of pink lemonade against a quilt background.  I love lemonade on a hot summer day, and pink lemonade is even better.  Add a well-loved quilt spread out on the grass in the shade, and I'm in heaven!

supplies:  Hero Arts CL673 Love Jar,white card base, design papers from Basic Grey's Mint Julep 6" paper pad, yellow cardstock for lemon wedge, pink cardstock for lemonade insert, vellum for jar,  Butter Bar mid-tone and VersaFine onyx black inks, Simon Says Stamp pink straw, Signo white gel pen and ruler for faux-stitching, Cuttlebug Juli's Garden embossing folder

We also decided to share a favorite summer recipe.  Mine is a Pasta Salad that I found in our kids' grade-school cookbook, way back in the 1980's.  In my opinion, it's best made when the little Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes are being harvested - they taste like candy!   You can add anything you like to this recipe, but it's the dressing that makes it, I think!

Pasta Salad

16 oz. package corkscrew pasta

1/2 C. olive oil

1/4 C. fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1 Tbsp. fresh basil

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed

Cook pasta according to package directions, rinse, drain, cool to still warm.  Mix remaining ingredients for dressing and pour over warm pasta; toss.  You may need to adjust the olive oil and lemon juice, keeping the same proportions,  2 to 1, if you think the mixture is too dry Cool completely in refrigerator, then add:

chopped red/green pepper

fresh cherry tomatoes or chopped tomato

2 Tbsp. chopped parsley

4 oz. provolone cheese, sliced and diced

4 oz. salami, sliced and diced 

other additions:

garbanzo beans

olives

fresh mushrooms

Toss all together and keep refrigerated until time to eat.

I'm the final stop of our hop for today, but be sure to check the Hero Arts blog tomorrow for the new lineup for Friday. Thanks so much for visiting - hope you're enjoying our virtual picnic!

I'd like to give away a Hero Arts/Archiver's Arrows exclusive stamp and die set and a set of Hero Arts ink cubes, including the new peach and mint julep colors.  Just be sure to leave me a comment here by 11:59 PM EDT, Saturday, July 27, and I'll use random.org to choose a winner. I'll announce that name on Monday, July 29 here on my blog.

A Very Special Thank You

After our recent Hero Hostess Blog Hop at the beginning of the year, our fearless leader Deborah Nolan had the fantastic idea for each of us to make some thank you cards to send along to Hero Arts in California, to be distributed to the office and factory staff, to let them know how much we appreciated them.  This is one of the cards I made.

I got the idea to stamp in those open spaces between the flower stems from the cover of a Hero Arts brochure that advertised the new 2013 stamps.   Whoever thought of this idea was genius!  So after stamping and coloring the Tall Flowers stamp, I then gathered lots of Hero Arts thank you sentiments, and fit them into the spaces. 

If you'd like to see a video showing my Hostess Sisters' cards, and some photos of some of the employees at Hero Arts, please visit the Hero Arts Club Blog.

Thanks so much for visiting today - I'll see you again tomorrow with a new sketch challenge at The Craft's Meow.

2013 Hero Hostess Blog Hop

If you're here to see my post for the Simon Says Stamp challenge, please scroll down one post, or click HERE; thank you.

Hi!  Welcome to the 3rd day of the 2013 Hero Hostess Blog Hop!  We alumnae Hostesses are so excited to be participating again this year to show you all some of our favorite new 2013 Hero Arts stamps; I am so honored to be among this wonderful group of creative ladies.  The Hop began on Monday, and will continue all the way through until Friday, with 5 or 6 blogs each day for you to visit.  You should have arrived here today from The Hero Arts Club Blog; I'm your first stop.

I made 4 cards for you today, so let's get started.

My first card uses my favorite flower stamp from the 2013 catalog: Tall Flowers.  Here I stamped only the top part of the stamp above and below the sentiment from Friends are Treasures, using alcohol markers to color the flowers.  Then I just added some turquoise and golden gems in a few of the centers.

My next stamp is called Tweed Pattern.  I white embossed it on white cardstock, then used some distress markers to color in my rows.  I added a sentiment from Live Life stamped in broken china distress ink, and added this flower made from Spellbinders Rose Creations dies, colored with distress stains.

This is a beautiful flourish, don't you agree?  It's called Leafy Vines.  I stamped it with VersaMark on an ivory cardstock, embossed it in clear and then sponged on peacock feathers and peeled paint distress inks.  Then I overstamped with my old favorite Music Background.  I didn't want to cover up anything on this lovely design, so I didn't add a sentiment; only a punched butterfly with some pearls.

My last card uses the clear set called Love Jar and I used just the branch, one of the hearts, and part of the sentiment to make this one.   I stamped the open heart on various red printed papers, then cut them out and popped them above my twine hanging from the branch.

Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments on all of our blogs  For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the blogs along the Hop on ANY day, including each day's starting post at the Hero Arts Club Blog.  The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!

If you find a broken link, you can always go back to the Hero Arts Club Blog for a master list of the Hop links.  Also, please report broken links to blog@heroarts.com.

Thanks so much for visiting me today; you next stop is Sally Sherfield's blog,   I know she'll have something amazing to show you!  Enjoy!

Hero Hostess Blog Hop, Jan 14 through 18th

Just a quick post to let you know that next week Hero Arts will be having its annual Hostess Blog Hop!  I'll be participating, along with about 27 of my Sisters!  We can't wait to show you our favorite stamps from the new 2013 catalog!  I hope you'll join us beginning Monday, and come back each day all next week.  (I'll have something for you on Wednesday.)   And of course there will be prizes - see you there!

Here's a card using 2 of the new stamp sets, Tall Flowers and Tweed Pattern.  

I white embossed the tweed, then sponged on tumbled glass and lilac distress inks.

Barb's Surprise Blog Hop!

Recently a group of Hero Arts flickr friends met at Scrapfest, and Barb organized our dinners and kept us all in line while we were there.  We all clicked immediately and had a fantastic time, way too short!  One of our number, Virginia, thought it would be a fun idea to have a little blog hop in honor of our friend Barb - today is her birthday!  We are each making her a card; here is mine:

supplies: ivory card base, design papers from Doodlebug Design and MME, Penny Black Petal Party flowers and Hero Arts sentiment from Sending Smiles Messages, VersaFine onyx black ink, pale yellow buttons

Barb loves pink and green, and she and I share a love of flowers, so that made this card easy to make!  Happy Birthday, my friend - wishing you a wonderful birthday!

Here are links to some alumnae Hero Hostesses who will be participating:

Marcy: http://enpapillotearts.blogspot.com/

Nancy http://happyheart-nancyljk.blogspot.com/

Judy http://judkajudi-livingthedream.blogspot.com/

Linda http://scrappinstampinsingin.blogspot.com/

Lin http://heartshugsandflowers.blogspot.com/   that's me!

Kathy http://wadingincreativity.blogspot.com/

Virginia http://virginialusblog.blogspot.ca/

Here we all are one night at Scrapfest; (top row, left to right, Marcy, me, Linda, Judy, bottom row, Kathy, Nancy, Virginia, Barb):

If you'd like to make Barb a birthday card also, just go on over to Virginia's blog and you can link it there!

Hero Arts 2012 Hostess Blog Hop

Welcome to the second day of the 2012 Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop!  All of us former Hostesses are thrilled to be participating again this year to show off the new 2012 Hero Arts stamps!  You should have arrived here from the amazing  Robin Kubasik's blog.

I had such a good time playing with the new stamps that I made you 4 cards.  Because of the length of my post, I'll forego my usual description of each card.....if you have any questions, just email me about the details.  Here we go!

New stamps used: CG335 Dot Flower Pattern, K5583 Wild Flowers with Label, alsoCL307 Mini Messages, PS563 Pool Layering Paper, CH213 Sea Mixed Accents, versafine onyx black ink and tumbled glass distress ink (also used to dye seam binding)

New stamps: CG405 Leaf and Floral Background, H5580 Newsprint Bird, also S5208 Designer Woodgrain, CL371 Essential Messages, CH213 Sea Mixed Accents (pearl for bird's eye), peeled paint, faded jeans and rusty hinge distress inks, versafine onyx black and vintage sepia inks, natural twine

New stamps: CG407 Floral Frames, also CL341 Thank You Sayings, Cuttlebug Victoria embossing folder, Memento Hero Hues Markers, purple gemstones

New stamps: CG420 True Friends, H5577 Classic Tea Flower, also PS597 Carnation Layering Paper, CH173 Hearts Accent Pearls, versafine onyx black ink, October Afternoon "Sidewalks" dotted pink dp, Memento Bamboo Leaves marker, pink gingham ribbon, Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Eighteen

Thanks so much for visiting my blog; I hope you'll come again.  The Hostess Blog Hop continues all week, with 4 or 5 new blogs to visit each day.  I'm the final blog for today, but tomorrow you can start again at the Hero Club Blog, where you'll find a link to start at the talented and sweet Lisa Carroll's blog.  If you get lost at any time, just go back to the Hero Club blog each day for a listing of the participating blogs with links. If any of the links is broken along the way, please report them to Tami.

Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments.  For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day's starting post at the Hero Club Blog.

2011 Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop

Hi! Welcome to the first day of a week-long Blog Hop featuring the Hero Arts Hostesses showcasing the new 2011 Hero Arts stamps!  I am so honored to be part of this group of amazing ladies.  You should have arrived from the talented Kelly Booth's blog.  If not, and you'd like to start at the very beginning, go to the Hero Arts Blog for a listing of all those blogs participating.  I hear there will be some prizes!
I've made 3 cards for you today, so let's get started.

I thought it would be fun to make a clear card.  The flowers from the new BLOSSOM ART set remind me a little bit of pansies, and so they were stamped on yellow and periwinkle, and the leaves on green cardstock, cut out, embossed with dots, then stacked.  The acetate card was stamped with the Flourish Background.  The sentiment is from a new clear set called SENDING SMILES MESSAGES.  It was stamped on a die-cut embossed tag which was framed in dark periwinkle inside the front of the acetate card to hide the adhesive. 

Supplies:  clear acetate as card base, white, periwinkle, yellow and green cardstocks, Hero Arts CL495 BLOSSOM ART, CL490 SENDING SMILES MESSAGES, CG119 Flourish Background, K4923 Pattern Flowers (smallest flower), Versafine onyx black and StazOn Cotton White inks, Sizzix swiss dot embossing folder, Cuttlebug die-cut and embossed tag, blue and gold pearls

This card started with my most wanted new stamp of 2011, called MUSICAL COLLAGE.  It has a bird in the right hand corner, but for this card I decided to cover it with some more of the BLOSSOM ART flowers.  They were stamped in brown ink on pink cardstock (and centered with a rolled rose), and the leaves, also in the set, on green cardstock.  The Musical Collage was stamped in the same ink on a creamy parchment paper, and distressed lightly with victorian velvet, bundled sage, and antique linen distress inks.  Then I simply added the beautiful dusty pink hand-dyed seam binding (a gift from a very special Hostess), some delicate lace, and the sentiment from last year's clear set called Just Find Me, dotted with a pink pearl. 

Supplies:  cream parchment and green cardstocks, Lasting Impressions Guava Checks and BoBunny Passion Fruit Dot (rolled flower) designer papers, Palette Burnt Umber ink, victorian velvet, bundled sage, and antique linen distress inks, HA S5501 MUSICAL COLLAGE, CL495 BLOSSOM ART, CL434 Just Find Me, hand-dyed seam binding, PTI button, lace, CH173 Heart Accent pink pearl

And for my final card today, I used this adorable woodblock stamp called IT'S A PARADE.  It was stamped twice (to get the correct length for the card) on parchment cardstock, then framed with various designer papers and put onto a kraft card.    I added the sentiment from a SparkleClear Messages set, and a heart button and twine to finish.

Supplies: parchment and kraft cardstock, designer papers from October Afternoon Thrift Shop and Cosmo Cricket Togetherness mini albums, HA G5469 IT'S A PARADE, CL131 Sparkle Clear Messages, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Memories red to edge sentiment label, Nesties one label, twine, red heart button

Thank you so much for taking the time today to visit my blog.  Please leave a comment because every comment left along the hop gives you a chance to win new Hero Arts 2011 stamps! 

Now I'll send you along to the next stop on our hop, the sweet Lisa Carroll's blog - I know she has created something wonderful  for you.   If you get lost along the way, or if a link doesn't work, you can always go back to the Hero Arts Blog for the master list of blog links.  Also, please email tami@heroarts.com and provide the blog address that has the bad link so we can fix it. Thanks and happy hopping!

 Hero Arts Hostess 2009