Today's the day that many of you have been waiting for. Each year Hero Arts does one MAJOR release and today is the day you get to see it. We are thrilled to be participating this year and hope that you enjoy the beautiful artwork our team is creating for you with the Hero Arts stamp line! Don't forget to join the Hero Arts blog hop as well. Thirty different artists have created some beautiful art to inspire you as well!!!
In addition you are going to want to set your clocks to return here tomorrow, Saturday morning, at precisely 10:00am Pacific Standard Time (on the East Coast it will be 1:00pm.) We will be doing something that we have never tried before --- I am trying to create something fun for all of you who shop with us and frequent our blog. We will be doing a scavenger hunt! Yes, it will perhaps be a little tricky at times, but there is a reward at the end for anyone who wants to make a purchase in our store. As well, you never know what types of surprises might pop up along the way ;)
Just a quick couple of hints to help you prepare:
- get your shopping cart ready, because the first ones through our scavenger hunt will receive a very special reward, (there will be a little something for everyone who prepares their carts and wants to shop though - just sayin' ;)
- sign up for our Facebook Fan Club,
- get a good nights sleep - ha! ha! (I think I should perhaps be telling myself that before I write the final clues, because my guess is that I may think I have made something easy to follow, when the reality might be quite different. BUT I will give it my best try to make this fun for all who play along :D)
Now on to what I think is a pretty funny story.
I guess you could say that we are participating with the Clear Stamps Hero Arts carries due to divine intervention - LOL! Many of you know that I don't prefer clear stamps - I have just found that I have had to restamp the image numerous times before I would get a good image. I felt that I couldn't do the same types of techniques that I can do with red rubber stamps. I have been a bit of a red-rubber snob is to put it mildly - LOL! So in placing my order to participate with the new release I opted to participate with the Cling and Wood Mount stamps only. Well... when I received the Make n' Take box last week --- guess what. Big mistake... (or so I thought - LOL) Included in my box was the Cling product AND (oh horrors) the CLEAR products... NO wood mounted stamps!!!
I sat there not knowing what I was going to do, because I needed to send these products out to all of our designers to make samples for our preview party here on our blog. I sat there and sadly looked at them and then said to Cathy, "Well, being as I have never stamped a clear Hero Arts stamp before let's go and see what this clear thing can do." I inked up my image and stamped it on my Neenah cardstock. Shock followed! Needless to say the image was not "squishy," it stamped beautifully! I thought perhaps it was just a fluke and so I tried again. I then had Cathy try. Next we pulled out another clear stamp that I had sitting in a drawer --- comparison is key in my mind and I had to know if I had been completely off base in my thinking. I had Cathy do the test. What did she think. Well I am happy to report that it is not just me being biased - she felt that the other old image was definitely more squishy and did not stamp nearly as well. I am only guessing here, but I think that what I did discover is that there are many qualities of clear stamps... and perhaps the quality of clear stamps has improved remarkably since my first experience years ago.
Needless to say the phone call that ensued with Hero Arts was much different than I initially anticipated. Instead of asking what had happened, I asked if we could please be added to the list of stores who would be purchasing the clear stamps.
So the good news is --- all those totally adorable, whimsical, cute images that Hero Arts manufactures in the clear stamp version only are now in our store. We are trying to make our descriptions and titles clear, so that there will be no mistake as to which product is clear, cling or wood mounted. I know that there are others like myself (at least the old self) who are red-rubber purists :D. Having pictures provided that visually show this difference is a huge help as well.
The story doesn't stop here though. In all the excitement of trying to get the products out to the designers quickly I did not realize that the Clear stamps Hero Arts had sent were not all new designs. I don't know their clear stamp line at all most obviously :D Why they included some older images I'm not quite certain, but they did, and the girls have created some magical projects with stamps we do not have in our store - LOL! It's all good though - I know that their creativity will inspire you :D
CLEAR STAMP INK PAD SELECTION
To begin I wanted to share a little information regarding this product. Being completely unfamiliar with it I felt that I had some exploring to do. You know me - "little miss tester." I pulled out six different stamp pads to see how the image would stamp for me using various inks. I am absolutely thrilled to report that every single one of them gave me a beautiful, clear detailed image. Following are the ink pads I tested:
- Tsukineko Memento, Tuxedo Black
- Palette, Noir
- Adirondack Dye, Pitch Black
- Adirondack Pigment, Pitch Black
- Archival, Jet Black
- Distress Ink Pad, Black Soot
I had always believed that Chalk Inks are the best ink to use with Clear Stamps and I don't even carry chalk inks in the store. So it is such a thrill to report to you that all of these ink pads stamped fabulously. The KEY is to have a nicely inked pad when working with any stamp. Dry ink pads = not so lovely impressions. I did freshly ink each stamp pad before beginning my test to make certain that I was comparing apples to apples.
Once I receive in the bold, silhouette style Clear Image I will be doing further testing. I promise I will check back in when I complete those tests :D
I have shared the picture of the brand new stamp set Big and Small above to show you the wonderful system that Hero Arts has devised for storing their clear stamps. As I began to pull the image away from this storage system I was most definitely a little fearful. It was SO sticky... I was afraid that I would tear the image as I removed it. I am so very happy to report back to you that each image I have removed (which unfortunately is not a whole ton because I only have a couple of sets to try this with) has not torn.
Secondly I discovered, as I released the image, that a perfect copy of the stamp is printed on the storage system! Thank goodness... because I have a tendency to not return my stamps to their homes immediately and then I can't remember where they belong (Insert slightly red face here. For anyone who happens to stop by and see my studio lately you can attest to the piles of stuff that needs to be put away. Can someone please make my days have more hours? Pretty please with sugar on top!) Having this printed surface will be so very helpful.
This picture is to share yet another realization that was part of my clear stamp, light-bulb, discovery process. The storage sheet folds back against itself ---- no more sticky stamps attacking everything that is within touching distance and no more losing the cover sheet as you wonder where on earth you set it down. Yippie, skippy --- I do have some further suggestions I might just have to share with Hero Arts some day though. You know me... always full of big ideas - LOL!
Here is the quick card I created as I continued playing with this fabulous new design. Hero Arts has done a fabulous job in helping us prepare for today. With the box of goodies they sent out to us came some Make n' Take instruction sheets. The card shown above is an improvisation on one of the cards they created as an example to assist us in our creative process.
I also wanted to test the clear stamps with VersaMark ink. So I pulled out my Champagne pad and some embossing powder. The detail stamped clearly and it worked like a charm! Then to add just a little more "pearly" texture to my creation and coordinate with the Pearl embellishments that Hero creates I used some White Opal Liquid Pearls. I felt that the liquid pearls would be too thick and so I squeezed a little on my non-stick craft sheet and then added some water to thin the mixture. This was then painted over the flowers for a beautiful, satiny tone-on-tone look.
Stamping on colored paper and then coloring with Copics or Prismacolor color pencils, is a technique that I have not used in a long time! It was a very nice reminder to see a sample in which someone did just that. You don't always have to stamp on white paper when coloring an image. You can stamp on colored paper and let the color stand alone, or add texture and highlights with a variety of coloring products.
When I saw that the original sample had a wonderful little "tag strip" I decided to try utilizing the Twill that we carry in our store and "test" the clear stamps on a fabric-like surface. The ink I used to stamp the sentiment from the new set Truly Appreciated was Pitch Black Adirondack Pigment. I then tested the Archival Jet Black ink. Both worked beautifully - in fact I do think that perhaps the Archival ink looked better, but silly me I ended up "testing" it with my finger and smudged the ink - LOL! Lesson learned - heat set the ink on the twill after stamping! I knew that... why on earth did I make a mess of such a pretty project :D
I hope that you have enjoyed my little exploration into the world of clear stamps. I guess the moral of this story is... you can teach an old dog new tricks... at least this old dog :D
Stay tuned today and please come back to join Susan and Julia. They will be revealing some absolutely spectacular creations with "old" (but new to us - LOL) Hero Arts stamps. You will enjoy their creations so much --- they are once again spectacular!!!
Also don't forget... Saturday, December 19th at 10:00am Pacific Standard Time - join us for a first ever Scavenger Hunt done the Ellen Hutson LLC way :D
