Thursday, March 31, 2016

Inspiration Week: Introducing Summer Picnic & Comfy Creatures

Hello there!  Today is all about ideas featuring our Comfy Creatures and Summer Picnic sets!  I hope you will take a look at all the fun ideas and sign up for today's giveaway.  

I found myself turning to Comfy Creatures over and over again while working on my cards for this release.  It has so many versatile images that compliment our other sets for fun scene building options.  While I sadly forgot to use them together for my cards this week, the new Comfy Creatures set was designed to mix and match with our previously released Sending My Love stamp set for endless combinations.  I also added two tails to the new set which can be added to either side of the body which work great for the cat and monkey faces.

Up first is a fun scene using the Summer Picnic stamps and the grassy border stamp from Sunny Sentiments.  I might have gone a little overboard with all the images I layered on this card, but it was hard to stop with all the cute choices available in this set! 
Sunny Studio: Every day with you is a Picnic card by Mendi Yoshikawa (using Summer Picnic & Sunny Sentiments stamps)
My second card features the boy body in swim trunks and the hula girl body from Comfy Creatures.  I decided to turn them into monkeys using the two different faces provided in the set and stamping their tails so that they could intertwine with each other.  

I cut my card base using the Stitched Heart Dies and masked off my beach and waves using Post-it Tape and our new Wavy Border dies featured on Monday (inked up from top to bottom in Tumbled Glass, Tea Dye and Salty Ocean distress inks).  After the ink was dry I heat embossed my greeting using the "aloha" sentiment from the new Island Getaway stamps.
Sunny Studio: Aloha Monkey heart shaped card by Mendi Yoshikawa (using Comfy Creatures stamps, Island Getaway stamps, Wavy Border dies & Stitched Heart dies)

Up next is another card featuring the different critters from Comfy Creatures.  I inked up each rectangle in my grid design using Twisted Citron, Mermaid Lagoon, Mustard Seed and Peacock Feathers distress ink.  I then stamped a subtle print in the background of each using some of the smaller images from the set (borrowing the leaf from Island Getaway).  When the distress ink was completely dry I heat embossed my sentiment in white.  


These critters were designed to be able to stamp together in a single layer, but I accidentally made a coloring mistake on my little monkey's head so I ended up stamping a second head and layering over the top with foam tap.  I love the dimension it gives him.  To bad he didn't fall in the center to make things look a little more balanced.  ;)
Sunny Studio: Happy Birthday From the Gang Monkey, Koala Bear & Panda card by Mendi Yoshikawa (using Comfy Creatures stamps)
My next card uses the tree from Summer Picnic (LOVE the versatility of that tree), the monkey and sentiment from Comfy Creatures, the grass from our Sunny Sentiment dies and our Fishtail Banner dies.  

I was inspired to color my grass using a technique similar to the one shared by Nina Trapani in her tutorial HERE.  I included two different bananas in the comfy creatures set: one by itself and one for the creature to hold.  I used the extra banana in the set to stamp a random pattern in my background to reinforce the sentiment.
Sunny Studio: I'm Bananas For You Monkey card by Mendi Yoshikawa (using Summer Picnic & Comfy Creatures stamps, Sunny Sentiments and Fishtail Banner dies)

My next card is a simple take on the Summer Picnic set.  I paired the fun little ant images with the trail from the Backyard Bugs stamps.  I then cut a simple frame from patterned paper on my paper trimmer and stitched it to the perimeter of my card.
Sunny Studio: Even The Best Picnics Have A Few Ants card by Mendi Yoshikawa (using Summer Picnic & Backyard Bugs stamps)

My last card uses the squirrel and tree (cut in half) from Summer Picnic, the birthday sentiment from Comfy Creatures, the banner and "let's celebrate" sentiment from Stars and Stripes and the grass border from Sunny Sentiments for a fun birthday card.  I think this would be super fun done up with a Fourth of July take too!  ;)

Sunny Studio: Banner Birthday card by Mendi Yoshikawa (using Summer Picnic, Stars & Stripes, Comfy Creatures & Sunny Sentiments stamps)

And here's another look at the new products featured on today's cards...



Sunny Studio Stamps: Summer Picnic stamp set Sunny Studio Stamps: Summer Picnic dies

Sunny Studio Stamps: Comfy Creatures stamp set Sunny Studio Stamps: Comfy Creatures dies

Would you like to win some of these fun new products?  Today we are giving away the Summer Picnic and Comfy Creatures stamps to one lucky winner using the Rafflecopter below.  If you're just joining us, make sure to check out our giveaways earlier in the week.  We will also be back tomorrow with one last prize featuring our graduation set.  

Winners will be announced here on the blog on Sunday, April 3rd.  :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
I hope I've helped jump start your creative juices.  I can't wait to see what fun projects you create with all these set.  Just a reminder that all our new products will be available for sale first thing tomorrow morning in our online store.  ;)

32 comments:

  1. I absolutely love the adorable critters.The summer picnic is way TOO cute!!
    Super fun cards!! Awesome release!
    Have a blessed day,
    Migdalia
    Crafting With Creative M

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  2. Oh My! The Comfy Creatures is awesome, and summer picnic is just great! Love all these cards!!!

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  3. Fabulous cards. These stamp sets are awesome!

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  4. I love that all the critters in this set are customizable. I'm a major dog lover, so maybe adding a set of dogs with different hats and outfits would be fun! My favorites today are the birthday cards. The colorful banner hanging from the trees is so pretty! And the "gang" of creatures is so cute! I love the vibrant grid background.

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  5. Bunch of fun cards
    today and I'd love
    to see an owl added
    to the critters!
    Carla from Utah

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  6. So adorable!! I would love to see a fall set with pumpkins, apples, and apple basket in the critters hands. I would also love to see a winter set with snowballs and cute mittens!!

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  7. I second the comment about the owl! I would love to see one added!

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  8. Super SUPER cute cards! LOVE all the sweet critters and still swooning over those darling monkeys ♥

    Elephants, I'd love to see some sweet elephants ♥

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  9. Super cute!! I would love to see a hedgehog and sheep added, I would love for them to hold objects...love your stamps that you have already :)

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  10. The cards are adorable with great inspiration. Love all the critter stamps.

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  11. Adorable cards. I love your fun stamps. Your critters are so cute- would love to see more of them.

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  12. Another winning set. I love these critters.

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  13. This is such an adorable concept for the stamp. I have your others; now I neeeeeed this one too!! LOL

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  14. AH - MAZING!!!! So cute and fun and sweet and adorable!! Your talents are sky-high, i believe you can do anything you decide to do!! These stamps are perfect for you to showcase your talents!! Love all the animals and I think an Elephant would be super fun. My son was an elephant in the play his school just finished up - would be so cool to have an image to go with all the pics of him!!! Mendi, you are just such a spectacular and stellar person!!!

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  15. Very cute and colorful. I would like to see overalls added as an outfit.

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  16. Wow your team have the most amazing colouring skills ever!! I would love to see them holding ice-creams or maybe a champagne glass. A suit and simple black dress would be great too with the champagne to make some wedding cards or some sort of graduation/congratulations cards.

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  17. Aw these are lovely, you always have exactly the right images and sentiments for any scene. Love these so much. Decisions to be made now...

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  18. So darn cute!! A Halloween costume set for the critters would be very cute!!

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  19. Some type of cute birds would be great to go with this set.

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  20. Super cute! Love all cards. :o) Thank you for the opportunity to win your cute stamps. :-D

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  21. Such nice and cute cards ! Beautiful sets 😊

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  22. I'd love to see several types of birds! These cards are all darling!

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  23. Great cards. So cute. I love critter stamps.

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  24. WOW I have literally been jumping up and down over the critter stamps!!! I love the interchangeable heads, bodies, etc. This is a fantastic stamp set! And so happy that it has the matching dies too. And your cards are all so very cute! My favorite was the card that said, "From the whole gang"! LOVED it! Even the little ants carrying the food away was pretty cute, I had to chuckle! Love your new release so much, by far my absolute favorite one yet!
    Hope I win something.... as I want it all and my budget is not gonna allow me to get it all!
    Hugs,
    Jo
    xox

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  25. Love the versatility of your stamps. I like to maybe see mythical creatures, although the bottom half legs would look funny. So maybe a raccoon, beaver, squirrel, etc.

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  26. Today's cards are so cute! Your animals are adorable; rather than a new outfit, I would like to suggest that, like in this new set, the animals have the option of sitting or standing, that you make more options for sitting. The sitting pose is so cute!

    Chris L.

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  27. Ants marching with fruit!!!! Cuteness!!!!

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