Inspiration Week: Introducing Holiday Style & Merry Sentiments

Hello & welcome to day 4 of our Holiday Release preview.  Are you excited for tomorrow?  I know I am (but truth be told I still have several last-minute details to pull together so I'm glad I still have a little time left). ;)  Thank you for all your sweet comments both here and on Facebook and instagram.  I read every one of them and they've all meant so much to me!  

Today I'm showcasing two fun layering sets called Holiday Style and Merry Sentiments.  The Merry Sentiments set is a 3x4 set filled with sentiments that build on the word Merry and then also includes a fun vintage-inspired layering light bulb image.  I've always adored light bulbs--There's just something about them, so bright and happy.  ;)  There's also a Merry Word die that coordinates with the set.

First I used the layering jingle bell and bow images from the set.  These images took me forever to design, but I will say it's never felt more gratifying to stamp with a new set of mine.  I generally feel like all layering stamps are magical, but even more so when it's something you labored so hard on.  



And here's my actual card using them.  Believe it or not, I didn't use a stamp positioning tool for these. Granted these are my best ones, but it just goes to show you don't have to have one to make it work.  My best results came from stamping the darkest image in black and then lining up the largest, lightest image over the top using the three shiny marks in the center to line things up.  For my bell I used Colorbox Seattle Sky Premium Dye Ink, Colorbox Storm and Versafine Black Onyx.

For my sentiment, I inked up some white cardstock with my favorite jumbo dauber and red distress inks.  When it was nice and dry I heat embossed my sentiment in white (this phrase comes cut apart so that you can use it all lined up in a row or stacked (as you will see from card shared below).

Next, I have a card using the tree bough and layering ornaments from Holiday Style.  I surprised even myself with all the fun and unique ways this tree branch can be used.  The ornaments are so bold and easy to layer freehand. Once again I found it was easiest to stamp the shadow first in the darker color and then stamp the ball over the top.  I then used a 1" circle punch to punch them out. 

The set comes with three different ways to hang your ornament with both a hook and a string as shown here.  I provided the string both as a solid image and one with a break in it so that when it's stamped on the tree branch it gives the illusion it's actually hanging from the tree.  For my sentiment, I turned to stacking the sentiment from the set, pairing it with my favorite new banner image from Little Angels.  

My third card uses the tree bough branch from Holiday Style and the other stamps from Merry Sentiments.  For this card, I stamped the branch in three different colors of ink to form a border around my card panel.  I then die-cut all my light bulbs from white cardstock and stamped them with my Misti Tool (using a similar technique shared HERE).  While a Misti isn't absolutely necessary it definitely made my life easier when it came to stamping a ton of these from different colors.

When I had them all stamped out I loosely placed them where I wanted them on my card and then used a little ink dauber to apply an inky glow around them with my distress inks.  I then adhered to my light bulbs and added some glossy accents to them.  My sentiment was stamped with a phrase from the set and paired with several layers of the Merry Word die stacked on top of each other.  

For this card, I went bright and happy again having my ornaments hang from what looks like a garland.  When I was nearly done I accidentally got some ink on my card base just below the red ornament.  I tried sanding it off, but it still looked too obvious to me so I got clever with some sequins to try and hide my mistake.  That particular sequin still feels a little misplaced to me, but overall it was a good save for something that could have landed my card in the trash. 

For my second rainbow of the day, I lined up the bulbs from Merry Sentiments in a fun clean and simple card.  I used our Wavy Border dies to form my string for the lights and inked up my background the same way I did for the first card using a mini ink dauber.

For one last card, I thought it would be fun to create an overall background and everyday card using the bow from the Holiday Style set.  Once again I was too lazy to mess with any sort of positioning tool.  I started by just inking up the bows with the base color and once I had them all placed I then could go through color by color with the layering images.  

When I was done I was hoping to hide some of my stamping imperfections & perhaps tone it down by spritzing it with water and flicking on some black ink.  In the end, I'm not sure if I ruined it, but after all the work I had put into it I decided to press on, adding a sentiment from our Sweet Shoppe set and coordinating Sweet Word die and fishtail banner dies.  The splatters and bows have a very 80's vibe to it, right?  

This is a little graphic showing all the different ways our Merry Sentiments set can be used. I think this little set has a big bang for your buck with the layering light bulb and 9 different combinations for sentiments when paired with the Merry Word die.

I am frequently asked what colors I used in my stamping and while I didn't keep records for all the cards in this post, I have gone back and tried to match them due to popularity.  I have listed them from light to dark.  :)

Jingle Bell
Colorbox Seattle Sky
Colorbox Storm
Versafine Black Onyx

Red Bow, Lights & Ornaments
Hero Arts Pale Tomato
Colorbox Strawberry
Colorbox Cranberry

Tree Branches
Grasshopper (first card)
Tree Frog (third card)

Pink Lights & Ornaments
MFT Cotton Candy
Hero Arts Bubble Gum

Slightly Darker Pink (alternative)
Colorbox Candy
Versafine Clair Charming Pink

Lavender Ornaments
Colorbox Pixie
Colorbox Lilac

Yellow Lights & Ornament
Versafine Clair Cheerful
Colorbox Banana

Orange Lights & Ornament
Colorbox Tangerine
Papertrey Ink Orange Zest

Green Lightbulb (fifth card)
Versafine Clair Verdant
Colorbox Grasshopper

Turquoise Lights & Ornament-Option 1*
Colorbox Seaglass
Colobox Ocean

Blue Lights & Ornament- Option 2*
Colorbox Poolside
Colorbox Wave

*I was having trouble finding an exact match for the blues I used since it appears they are now retired, but I have provided options for slightly more aqua or slightly more blue.

Here's a full look at the new Merry Sentiments 3x4 stamps and companion dies...

            

And here's a look at the new Holiday Style 4x6 stamps and coordinating dies...

        

Both of these will be available for purchase starting tomorrow morning!  Yay!

Would you like to win a $20 gift code to our online store?  Use the rafflecopter below to enter to win.  We will be giving away a new gift code each day for a total of five chances to win!  The contest closes on October 8th at Midnight PST.  Winners will be announced on Sunday, October 9th.  :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Make sure to check back tomorrow morning for one last stamp set and several standalone dies that I'm really excited about.  ;)

Other Sunny Studio Supplies Used: