A Blog Named Hero

The official Hero Arts challenge blog!

Archives for December 2015

A sad farewell

Hello crafty friends.

I’m here today with the saddest post I’ve ever had to write.

Our dear friend and former DT member Leslie Hanna passed away suddenly yesterday.  We won’t go into details but thought instead we would write a few words here and re-share a couple of our favourite projects of hers here.

Leslie, as you may all remember was our Sketch Master for quite some time and brought to life many different sketches and ideas for you all to find inspiration from.  When we first told her we were calling her the Sketch Master for her monthly post, she nearly killed us and demanded a less ridiculous name, but of course we didn’t listen and she played along (rolling her eyes every time she had to add her Sketch Master name badge I’m sure).

I loved Leslie’s style of crafting, it was so very HER. No nonsense, fun and interesting and very very dry-witted. She never really played by the crafting “rules” but was always willing to give different ideas and techniques a try.

Here are just a few of the many MANY projects she made for us

see what I mean? No style was out of her repertoire, she just made what she felt like, and I loved her for it.

And one last one that really sums up how we’re all feeling right now.

We’ll miss you Leslie. Thank you for your dry wit, your gorgeous Bobra photos, your craftiness and of course, your friendship.

Rest In Peace.

The A Blog Named Hero Team.

Introducing the new 2016 Design Team!

Hello!

We’re so excited to be here today for our second to last post for 2016.

Today we announce the new Design Team for next year!

Firstly we want to thank the entire 2015 team and say goodbye, it’s been a wonderful year and ladies, it’s been fantastic to “work” wtih you all 🙂

A couple of ladies will be staying with us, our Facebook Team co-ordinator Michelle Lupton will be staying on in her important role, and Jessica Frost-Ballas will be too, and she will be taking on the role of social media, so be sure to keep an eye out for our Pinterest accounts and twitter and instagram, etc., taking off!

And on to the new team members… *drumroll*

Please help us welcome…

Alisha Amantiad

Hey there, my name is Ali and my card was super quick and easy to make! 
My base is a Kraft color cardstock with some patterned paper I was
gifted by a dear friend in a swap.  The flowers are from All Natural
Accents and my sentiment is the Simon Says Stamp big hello!

Ali

Betty Keefe

I’m a retired educator
enjoying life every day – designing cards is my passion along with
reading, playing bridge and travelling.  Love the U. of Nebraska Husker
sports – football games in the fall and the women’s basketball games are
my favourites.  Also have volunteer jobs for several organizations and
at my church – no problem staying busy!!
Betty

Kristina Beagle

  Hi! I’m Kristina {LiveLoveLaughScrap} from Commerce, MI.
I’ve been scrapbooking for the better part of 15 years and have recently gotten
into card making. I’ve been a fan of ABNH for long time and very happy to be
here with you.

Kristina

Kathy Stacy

Hello, I’m Kathy Stacy, also known as “The Crafty Nurse”.  RN by day, crazy card maker by night. I started crafting in 2005 with scrapbooking then found Kristina Werner and fell madly in love with card making.  I now do mostly cards and I love techniques using ink.  I’m an avid Copic Colorist, love card sketches, and work on several different design teams using both rubber and digital images.  You’ll find me blogging at: https://craftynurse4u.wordpress.com/ where I am posting like a mad women. 

On a personal note, I’m married to my soul-mate for 23 years, have two grown boys and now live in Virginia by way of Southern California, St. Louis Missouri, New Jersey, and New York. I am beyond thrilled at being asked to participate on the Design Team of A Blog Named Hero.   
Kathy

Ilina Crouse

Hi, I am Ilina Crouse, I am an Electrical Proposal Engineer and a
mommy of 3 little ones (4yr, 2yr and 10 months), as well I am an avid
paper crafter. I love Clean and Simple designs and try to create every
day, as my little escape from the everyday craziness. 

Ilina

 and Michele Greenwood

Hi, my name is Michele and I am so delighted to be a part of A Blog Named Hero’s design team. I have been married to my prince charming for 23 years and we are blessed with 3 little ones (I guess I should stop calling them ‘little ones’ at some point); ages 19, 17, & 15. I love creating handmade greeting cards in a variety of styles and every now and then I venture into the 3D and scrapbooking world. See you again soon!

 
That’s it! We’re so excited to have these wonderful ladies starting with us in 2016!! We hope you’ll join us in welcoming them to the team 🙂
See you again soon!
Linda & Lisa

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas

Hello! Michelle here today, wishing you a Merry Christmas from our Facebook inspiration team.

Please visit our A Blog Named Hero Facebook page (HERE), and like and follow us – we have extra inspiration there multiple times a week that you will not see on the blog, so it’s definitely worth your while to visit us there. We will also have new additions to the team there in 2016 – stay tuned!

This is our last post for our Christmas event here at A Blog Named Hero – but please come back on the 20th of December – we have a special announcement to introduce our 2016 design team. 

Without further ado, here’s my card for you today: 

I used one of the geometric Christmas trees in the Hero Arts “Joy to the
World” stamp set to create this tree, stamped 9 times!  I coloured both
the tree and the elf from the “Santa’s Elves Stamp & Cut” set
with Copic markers, and then stamped the sentiment with Versamark and
white embossed it onto the tree.  I stamped the “Magical Background”
stamp on the white card base using some pale blue ink, and then sponged
some Distress ink in Tumbled Glass around the card edges, and some Mowed
Lawn on top of the sentiment to make it stand out a bit more.  A heap
of sequins from Simon Says Stamp, and a star on top of the tree were the
finishing touches! 

I’d like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. May your stocking be full, your heart be joyous, your cares be few, and may we all have peace.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas

Hello Everyone! Cecilia from the Facebook team here today. Can you believe it’s the 11th of December already. Well, my cards are all posted, presents nearly all done and about to be wrapped! Yay! I have a special guest today the Almighty Queen of Markers – Kathy Racoosin from The Daily Marker. I’m a big fan of Kathy and love her bold colouring. Without further ado, here is Kathy’s card. 

For my card I wanted to do some Copic colouring. 

I decided to use a favourite reindeer and coloured him in and paper pieced a jumper for him. I used my new Hero Arts Monthly kit to make the bauble on vellum and fussy cut it out. This was adhered onto the card with a stripe of glitter tape added to the inside edge of the card. The reindeer was added with dimensional foam on top of the vellum bauble. The sentiment is from Hero Arts Greatest Gift and the patterned paper is from My Minds Eyes Mistletoe Magic. Wishing all the crafty ladies out there a very Merry Christmas!

Please visit our Facebook page HERE, and like the page – you won’t regret it!

On the Tenth day of Christmas

Hi friends!

Welcome to the TENTH day of christmas!!

Today I have a crafter as my buddy, who is SUCH a talented, inspirational woman, and someone I’m a huge huge fan of, Francine VuillĂšme!

Francine says:

For this
project, I wanted to feature the “Merry Christmas Reindeer” stencil from Hero
Arts. I decided to create a card using non-traditional Christmas colors. First,
I traced the outlines of the deer with a sharp pencil onto a watercolor panel. I
then colored the deer shape with watercolors and inks to create a beautiful rainbow
effect. Next, I heat embossed the “Christmas” sentiment from the Hero Arts “Merry
Stamp & Cut” set with white embossing powder onto black cardstock and I
fixed it to the panel with 3D foam pads. To finish off my card, I adhered the
watercolored panel to a top-folded card base and I added three tiny wood stars.

How gorgeous is this?! I’m so so impressed and in love with this card!

I wanted to make the star, really literally the centre of attention, so I heat embossed it in gold and then used my watercolour paints around it.

I added the sentiment, in black Hero Arts Dye ink and finished the card off with two strips of gold glitter paper.

That’s it for me!

I hope you liked our cards and you’re enjoying our christmas event!

Thank you Francine for your most beautiful creation, and thank you readers for stopping by!

See you again soon!

Linda x