Inspiration Week: Introducing Pirate Pals Stamps & Dies

Happy Wednesday!  Only two more days until release day!!! I'm so excited to be unveiling our new Pirate Pals set today.

Back in early January several of us on the Doodlebug design team were trying to guess what Doodlebug's new collection for Spring would be and several guessed Pirates.  It turned out to be Vikings with their darling Dragon Tales collection, but I couldn't get the idea of cute pirates out of my head and I thought they would be the perfect compliment to our more girly Magical Mermaids set shared yesterday.

For my first card I wanted to create a Silhouette of the pirate ship from the set so I started by blending Worn Lipstick and Mustard Seed distress inks on my card panel to form my sunset.  I then stamped the pirate ship over the top and colored it in with a black Copic marker using one of the new fine sketch nibs (oh my goodness I'm in love with it) and covered the bottom portion of my card front with a piece of black cardstock.  To set my little scene I borrowed the palm tree and island from our Island Getaway Stamps which I think are the perfect compliment to this set.  The little crab guy comes from tomorrow's sneak peek.  ;)

Up next is a playful card using one of the pirate guys holding a single red balloon.  I thought it would be fun to cut off the sword and make it look like the pirate was holding the balloon instead.  This would actually work well for both of the sword carrying pirates, but I loved how I could color him to match my red, black and white color scheme.  :)  

For my background I alternated stamping the scull and crossbones stamp with the anchor using VersaMark ink and then heat embossed them with clear powder on my red cardstock.  It gives it a pretty cool velvety appearance in person.

Up next are three pirates hiding in barrels.  Don't ask me why.  I had this idea in my head from the beginning, but when my 11-year old daughter saw this card she thought it was pretty wacky.  I think perhaps I've ridden Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland one too many times with Johnny Depp peaking out from the barrel.  

To ground my scene I borrowed some inspiration from the wonderfully talented Sandy Allnock and loosely sketched in some planks using my Copic Markers and a clear ruler.  I then used some post-it tape as a mask and inked up the bottom half with antique linen and the top half with tumbled glass distress inks, fading them out towards the edges of my card panel.  

And that parrot on his head?  He's covering a boo-boo on my background, but I like to think of it as sort of a happy accident because in the end I like the splash of color he added and how he made my composition a bit more interesting--I only wish I had thought to mirror him so he was facing the other way.  ;)

My last card is sort of the day version of my first card.  I used the same palm tree and island from our Island Getaway set, this time also incorporating the wave stamps from that set for my ocean.  For my clouds, I used the dies from our Rain or Shine and Sunny Sentiments sets, cutting them from masking material and setting them on my white cardstock background before inking in my sky using Tumbled Glass distress ink. The parrot, treasure chest and coins complete my scene and help tie in my punny sentiment.  

I hope you've enjoyed today's cards.  Here's a full look at the new Pirate Pals clear stamps and coordinating dies available for purchase on Friday morning...

  

Would you like to win a $25 gift code to our online store to spend on some of the new sets?  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!  Contest closes on April 15th at Midnight PST.  Winners will be announced on Sunday, April 16th.  :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway Make sure to check back tomorrow when I will be sharing another new set that coordinates well with both our Pirate Pals and Magical Mermaid sets. ;)

Other Sunny Studio Supplies Used: