Hero Arts Blog

Finding products that weren’t designed at the same time, but fit together perfectly makes me a little giddy! That is the case with the Thank You Die and Nesting Hearts Infinity Dies. The “thank you” words almost take on a heart shape when stacked on top of each other, so it was a natural fit. I […]

Some of my favorite woodblock stamps from Hero Arts over the past year have been the destination stamps. So when I saw National Parks Poetic Prints, a set of four woodblock stamps drawn in the same style, I was instantly in love! I created four small notecards so I could play with each of the […]

I often find that certain stamps I pass over quickly become one of my favorites to use. Such is the case with the Antique Bee and Flowers. I'm not sure if it's just that it's a woodblock stamp, and because I store mine in drawers, they end up being rather "out of sight, out of mind." In any case, when I did take it out...

Good morning, Jessica here with two projects using the romantic Romeo and Juliet set from the 2017 Valentine’s Collection. I love the silhouette images of Romeo and Juliet but I wanted to focus on some of the smaller stamps in the set for my creations. I loved the roses in the Romeo and Juliet stamp […]

Can you tell this is my first time making heart shaped cards? I wanted to create something different with a heart shape rather than an A2 sized top folding card. Then I ended up creating a set of congratulations cards. I started by die cutting the largest heart from Nesting Hearts Infinity Dies out of Pool Mix Layering […]

Today I'm gonna show you how to get some more use out of your inks - by using them to create custom colored paint! To create your custom color, smoosh your ink pad against an acrylic block (or some plastic acetate), and then add a couple drops of acrylic. I used some pearlescent white acrylic paint, so that I could also get a nice shine to my...

Hello! I have a trio of mini cards that features the [hero_product_link sku="CL923" text="You are My Happy"] set from the 2016 Valentine's Collection along with the new Mum Flower from the 2016 catalog. This set includes three 4x4 inch cards, same stamps - different looks. First up is the tone on tone, I used [hero_product_link sku="AF168" text="Soft Pink Shadow Ink"]: I'm a big fan of the tone on...

Two of the most beautiful stamp sets ever, Color Layering Large Orchid and Color Layering Orchid in a Pot, are being released in the new 2016 Catalog and today I am sharing two cards using them. For my first card using the Large Orchid, I stamped the stem and buds onto a white card stock base and stamped the flowers in coordinating colors on a separate sheet from...

I think I have a problem with heat embossing…I can’t seem to stop using it! Today’s card shows how you can heat emboss on top of an already heat embossed layer, as well as use some heat embossing to help create your own shaker elements for a shaker card. To start off, I die cut […]

When I first saw the new Origami Happy Holidays, I immediately knew I wanted to do a "stained glass" sort of card. As I was making the card, I realized how versatile images are!

I'm all about the details when it comes to cards. An otherwise simple and drab card can be spiced up with a little bit of glitter, some gems, etc. One of my favorite ways to add that bit of detail to cards is embossing, and Hero Arts has so many fabulous embossing powders! Today's card used two new embossing powders just released in the winter...

One of the Bold Prints that immediately caught my eye in the 2016 Winter Catalog is the Rings Bold Print. The design reminds me of wedding rings and bubbly champagne, so I decided to use it as a background on an anniversary card.

Today I am so excited to introduce one of my favorite new products from the 2016 Winter Catalog -- Infinity Dies! These are a line of nesting dies currently available in three shapes -- circles, rectangles and tags. Today I'm going to feature the [hero_product_link sku="DI197" text="Tag Dies"]. The Tag Dies feature five sizes of of shaped tags along with three hole reinforcers. I used...

I’m usually not a fan of critters but I immediately fell in love these adorable images when I saw Winter Bunny, Winter Bear and Winter Fox. I created a circle window panel using the new Circle Infinity Dies to show them off. We'll be featuring Infinity Dies the rest of the week on the blog so stay tuned for more! I just love the critters peeking out the...

Heat embossing is a fun basic technique that can make your projects literally shine. The [hero_product_link sku="PW118" text="White Satin Pearl Embossing Powder"] is quite unique, and it makes the stamped images look professional and outstanding. So today I am sharing how this product can be used easily to create beautiful backgrounds and to enhance die cut shapes to achieve fabulous results. Like any other embossing powder, the [hero_product_link sku="PW118" text="White Satin Pearl Embossing Powder"] can...

Today marks the start of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games! Sparked by this event, I thought it would be fun to include gold, silver and bronze all on one card, and also represent the symbolism of the Olympic rings with the Circle Graphic Background. This stamp has three circular sections that are perfect for highlighting each of the Olympic medal colors. I started by stamping...

I am a big fan of Hero Arts dye ombré ink pads so when I spotted two new pigment metallic pads from Hero a bunch of stamping ideas rushed through my mind and I was lucky to jot down a few. I love both dye and pigment inks; dye - for how fast they dry and how they overlap and pigment, as silly as it...

Hello! Today I'm sharing a card using one of my new favorite crafting color combos - orange, pink, and tan! Of course, this combo may not appeal to everyone, but I think it looks downright tasty when used with the [hero_product_link sku="CL950" text="Birthday Cake Layering stamp set."]  For today's card, I started out by embossing the cake, candles and platter images in [hero_product_link sku="PW100" text="gold"] onto some watercolor cardstock....

I'm a huge fan of the Hero Arts Bold Prints, how about you? You don't have to use them in their entirety, you can easily use just a portion of the image: Today's cards uses the [hero_product_link sku="CG691" text="Garden Bold Prints"] stamp. I stamped them out on different layering  paper A2 card panels. My first trio have been teamed up with the [hero_product_link sku="CL954" text="Many Everyday Messages"] set. The  [hero_product_link...

Using large background stamps for your cards can be so convenient, especially when you are making more than one card. However, it is always fun if you play with ink colors and paper to achieve different results. Today, I am sharing how I created an easy double step background using the [hero_product_link sku="S6141" text="Circle Graphic Background"] stamp along with some other Hero Arts products to make a Thank...

I rarely use a stencil on my cards. That doesn't mean I don't like the effect of stencils. Ever since I saw Mariana's amazing cards made with Waves Stencil, I've wanted to give it a try myself. Then here is what I came up with: I placed the stencil over the grey panel and sponged over the stencil using Versamark watermark ink. I almost added some Perfect Pearls, but...

Background stamps, especially Bold Prints 6x6 Clings are always fun to use! Be it a portrait or a landscape A2 card - they work perfectly. Today I'm using [hero_product_link sku="CG695" text="Irregular Grid"] stamp and making only a partial impression to create map-like backgrounds for my cards. There's a fantastic card example in [hero_product_link sku="PS916" text="Summer 2016 catalog"] where dark brown ink is used over light...

The new Destination stamps collection is one of my favorites from the new Summer Catalog. The stamps that are part of it include some of the main cities of the U.S. and they are perfect to create cards, postcards, document your trips or even to use on your scrapbook pages.  Today I am sharing a couple of cards featuring  [hero_product_link sku="CL965" text="Kelly's Chicago"], which is one of my...

Today I wanna share a pair of cards and a video showing several different ways to spice up your die cuts. Watch the video below to see how I made them! [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRRzuxwlL5o] If you have a problem viewing this video, please try watching it HERE on YouTube. For this first card, I stamped a background using the anchor from the [hero_product_link sku="CL957" text="Hipster at Heart"] stamp set and some [hero_product_link sku="PW110"...

I love creating with Hero Arts Color Layering stamp sets and ombre inks as the colors of ink in these have been carefully selected and always work so great together for Color Layering (among other things). However, sometimes I want to alter the colors of the ink slightly, for example make the final image a bit lighter, but I don't always have the right shade...

One of my favorite things to do with detailed flower images is emboss them. It seems to be able to capture a little bit of that etherealness flowers have. I stamped the [hero_product_link sku="CL980" text="Happy Mother's Day"] flowers all over a piece of [hero_product_link sku="PS619" text="light purple cardstock"] using Versamark, then heat embossed them with [hero_product_link sku="PW118" text="White Satin Pearl embossing powder"]. This stuff looks so dreamy! I then stamped the...

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...

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 stamping: Tangerine, Mulled Wine, Strawberry, Dandelion and Summer Sky. Then I colored the images...

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 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...

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 over...

Who said color layering stamp sets only have to be used for color layering, for creating one multi-colored image? Yes, they work beautifully for that (and always produce stunning results), but can also be stretched in a way. Today I am inviting you to try to use each color layering stamp individually. To be able to better explain what I have in mind I've filmed a...