Hero Arts Hostesses Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to your next stop on Day 1 of the Hero Arts Hostess Hop, featuring fabulous products from Hero Arts 2016 Winter release. I am delighted to be hopping along with this group of fabulous ladies and all of you today!

You should have arrived here from the blog of the super creative Suzz, if you haven't, you can hop over to the Hero Arts Blog and start from the beginning. If you find a broken link as you hop, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Arts Blog. Also here are links to all the stops for today's hop:

Virginia Lu
Emily Leiphart
Sue McRae
Sarah Kapteyn Moerman
Nancy Krueger
Tiffany Ervin
Arlene Pagent McClung
Joy Taylor
Suzz Czosek
Heather Doran - you are here!
Hero Arts

PRIZES

Don’t forget to leave comments as you hop. Hero Arts will be awarding 4 prizes from randomly drawn comments. Two winners will receive a $25 shopping spree in Hero Arts' online shop and two winners will receive a bonus prize. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop today and tomorrow, including at the hop ending posts on the Hero Arts Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning. Please comment by 11:59pm PT Sunday 30th October for a chance to win. By the way I have comment moderator switched on, so don’t worry if your comment doesn’t appear immediately. Best of luck!

NEW RELEASE

It really is one of the most wonderful times of the year when Hero Arts' Winter Catalogue is released! I always spend hours poring over the catalogue and adding favourites to my shopping list - it always ends up being a very long list:) The sumptuous cover on this year's catalogue gives just a tiny glimpse of the wonderful crafting goodness packed inside.

CARDS

My blog post is going to be long enough as it is so I'm not going to add my usual detailed description of how I've made my cards. If you have any questions though please feel free to ask in the comments section or send me an email at stampingandstitching@gmail.com and I'll get back to you.

I just love the cute little mittens from Kelly’s S’Mitten set and for this card teamed them with a wreath from the September kit. I went to town with sparkle on this card with the shimmery white background and glittery sentiment, bow and sprigs of berries.

Hero Arts Supplies -
Christmas Trimmings Stamp & Cut
Kelly’s S’Mitten Stamp & Cut
My Monthly Hero September 2016

I love the beautiful bird from the Vintage Christmas Post set so decided to have that as a focal point on my next card. Can you tell I love wreaths?! As I wanted the bird to really pop on the card I used kraft card for my wreath. The wreath was made by using one of the wreaths from the September kit as a base and I intertwined branches which had also been cut out with a die from that kit.

Hero Art Supplies -
Vintage Christmas Post
My Monthly Hero September 2016
Christmas Trimmings Stamp & Cut (sentiment)

Next up I used my absolute favourite die from the release - the Paper Layering Santa Face with Frame die.

Hero Arts Supplies -
Paper Layering Santa Face with Frame
Color Layering Dimensional Bird (sentiment)

I think this Santa has such a lovely expression on his face and it's such an amazing and unique die in the way that Santa's beard and moustache can be given a fun 3D look by simply curling the cuts. This Santa is going to be on so many of my Christmas cards this year and he will also be perfect for gift tags.

My final card is one that includes a present on the card front. The cute little crocheted Christmas stocking is perfect for hanging on a Christmas tree and holding a gift card and other little pressies inside.

Hero Arts Supplies -
Hand Drawn Snowflakes
Happy Holly Days
Vintage Christmas Post (sentiment)
Christmas Trimmings Stamp & Cut (bow)

My stocking was stuffed with a book token, spending money for craft supplies and a little bit of chocolate - sounds remarkably like what I'd like for Christmas;)

WIN A CROCHET PATTERN

The adorable Christmas stocking on my last card was designed and crocheted by a very talented lady, Ruth Teskey, who has a fabulous array of crochet patterns in her shop Avondale Patterns. Ruth's patterns are available in both European and US crochet terms. For a bit of fun I'm going to give one person a pattern from her shop. To be in with a chance to win just mention in your comment your favourite pattern from Ruth's shop and you never know you might just win it:) I'll announce the winner of the pattern on Sunday 30th October.

THANKS

Before you go I want to thank you for visiting, thank Hero Arts for another fabulous release and the products they sent me, thank my good friend Linda for a lot of the goodies I played with, thank the Hero Hostesses for their friendship and inspiration and last, but certainly not least, also thank Virginia for the tremendous work she put into organising the hop. Now it's time to hop to your final stop for today - the Hero Arts Blog. Best of luck in the prize draw and have fun hopping again tomorrow!