Sneak Peek: Penguin Pals, North Pole, Winter Scenes & Window Quad Dies

Hello and welcome to day 4 of our Fall & Winter Peek Week!  All this week I am showcasing cards using our newest collection which will be available for purchase on Friday, August 21st. 

Today's sneak peeks include three cute new 4x6 stamps sets perfect for both Winter and the Christmas season, along with matching dies and two versatile standalone die sets. There's a lot to share again today so let's dive right in!

Card No. 1:  My first set of cards showcase our new Penguin Pals Stamps, as well as our newest scene building border set called Winter Scenes. These can be layered together with and compliment last year's Scenic Route Stamps beautifully. For my card here I used the fir tree border which can be colored green as I did or in a sparkly white to look like they are covered in snow. This set comes with a removable stamp that is just a curved line that I used here to create my water's edge. You could also use it to color your scene to look like a frozen pond for ice skating or omit it entirely and layer it together with some snow slopes. Both the Penguin Pals set and the Winter Scenes set come with an ice block, each flipped a different direction so I was able to use the two together for my little penguin duo here.  

I used the coordinating Winter Scenes dies to cut out the area above my line of trees and also cut the same curved line from some masking material so I could mask off my trees and ink up my water with Salty Ocean distress ink and then used the small wave stamps from our Spring Scenes Stamps to make it even more evident that they were floating in an icy pool of water. For my sky I inked up my card base with some Tumbled Glass distress ink and then added a couple stitched clouds using our Fluffy Cloud dies. Finally, I stamped my punny greeting with clear VersaMark ink and then heat embossed it with some white embossing powder.

Card No. 2:  For my next card I turned to our new Window Quad Circle dies which are a follow-up and alternative option to our Window Trio Circle dies and Window Trio Square dies.These not only create this great grid design with four stitched circles, but in their negative space they include two stitched circles, two plain circles and 4 mini poinsettia flowers you can layer together (I have an example of that later in this post). I just love how quick cards come together when using these dies and they're such a great way to frame little critters! 

For this card I cut a number of scalloped borders from our Sleek Stripes Paper using our new Slimline Basic Border dies, layering them together for a fun ruffled look. The Penguin Pals set comes with a number of mini snowflakes in the set so I heat embossed several of them onto my background, scattering them almost like I would with sequin embellishments. A simple twine bow tied below the sentiment helped visually balance things out a bit with the two "heavier" penguins on the left side of the card and also helped give my card a more finished look with my transition between my card background and the ruffles.

Card No. 3: This card uses our second new standalone called... You guessed it, Window Quad Square dies. The negative spaces for this die set comes with all the pieces you need to make adorable mini tags which I share an example of later in this post. This time I decided to use the dies for a square card measuring 4.25" x 4.25".  

I started by inking up a piece of white cardstock with Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire distress inks before flicking on some water, dabbing with a paper towel and then flicking on some watered down white paint. In my case I made a number of backgrounds and then walked away from them for several days so they had plenty of time to dry, but if you want to speed things up I would recommend zapping the finished panel with a heat gun to make sure it's good and dry and then using an anti-static tool generously over the surface so make sure there's no moisture left on the paper surface to attract embossing powder where you don't want it when stamping your sentiment.

I colored my little Penguin Pals with Copic Markers and colored all their accessories in red for a fun red, white and blue color scheme. For my heart balloons, I used a .1 Copic Multiliner pen with a small clear ruler to draw in my own balloon strings around the sentiment. This card was really simple and easy to make, but in the end it turned out to be one of my favorites.  I think it's the beauty of these dies and how well they frame our little critters with a quick crank through the die-cutting machine.

Card No. 4: Up next is a card featuring the solid version of that same heart balloon from our Penguin Pals Stamps. For those that don't love coloring, these images can be layered together to save time or used separately. I love the way a solid balloon image looks when overlapped with other colors using die inks giving the same look as a real transparent balloon!

Before stamping any balloons though I started by cutting out a cloud border from masking material using our new Slimline Nature Border Dies and inking up my sky with Tumbled Glass distress ink. These dies are 9 inches long which give you a ton of options when using them on a 4.25" wide card.  It almost looks like I used a larger border set with three separate cloud border dies, right? I tell ya, even I was surprised by how much I fell in love with these long slimline dies!

For my sentiment I used one of the stitched circles that pop out from our Window Quad Circle dies and layered it over a circle cut using our Staggered Circle Dies. I cut a thin strip from the rainbow chevron print found in our Surprise Party Paper pack to tie in with all the colors in my balloons, but somehow my card was just feeling a little blah and off balanced. That's when I realized layering in some cute clouds from our Spring Showers Stamps would be the perfect way to fill some of those visual gaps.

Card No. 5: For my last Penguin Pals card today, I paired them with the new little igloo and snow covered tree from our new Winter Scenes Stamps and the larger igloo from our retiring Polar Playmates Stamps.  

The Winter Scene Stamps also comes with a number of little individual circles perfect for creating your own custom snowy background. To create mine, I arrange all my circles onto a 1-inch square block in such a way that I could keep stamping the same pattern over and over again without having to mess with moving them around each time. When I was done a saw a couple spots where it looked empty so I just stamped those with one of the tiniest circles to fill in the gaps. In hindsight as I'm typing this I realize I probably should have taken a wet paint brush to lighten up the centers of each "snowflake" to lift up some of my distress ink behind them to turn them more white, but let's pretend I did that before spending 30 minutes editing my photo.  ;)

For my snowy hills, I used the stitched slopes from our Slimline Nature Border dies and then tucked all my images between them. The Penguin Pals set comes with several fun things for the penguins to hold like a letter to Santa, two candy canes, a bell to ring, balloons, two fish and of course the penguin that already comes holding a cute string of holiday lights.

Card No. 6: Staying with the icy climate, we have another fun set to introduce called North Pole! This set comes with four cute elves, another Santa to compliment last year's Santa Claus Lane set and Mrs.Claus! For my card here I paired the new stamps with the sleigh and Santa's bag from Santa Claus Lane and the log cabin & fir tree backdrop from our new Winter Scenes Stamps. For my background I inked it up with a light layer of Salty Ocean distress ink and then heat embossed our Snow Flurries Stamps over the top, stamping them twice side by side.

Card No. 7:  For this card I used the two other elves from the North Pole Stamps with their outstretched arms creating a scene of them all jumping up in unison. For my snowy backdrop I inked up my sky with tumbled glass distress ink and then repeatedly stamped and heat embossed our Frosty Flurries stamps until my background was covered.

For my snowy hill, I tried my best to align one of the sloped dies from the new Slimline Nature Border dies onto my paper so that perfectly centered in the middle of my A2 sized card and then added a basic straight stitch to the bottom edge of my panel using our Slimline Basic Border dies. I left a little room along the bottom for a strip of red gingham paper from the Holiday Cheer Paper pack to peek out. I then stamped my punny sentiment in red ink and added a trio of red hearts which I cut out using our Basic Mini Shape Dies 2 set.  This is another card that was fairly simple in design and assemble, but I think it just might be my favorite with these stamps.

Card No. 8: For my next card I thought I would create my own "patterned paper" heat embossing the little elves from the North Pole set in my background on a piece of the red grid print from our new Classic Sunburst paper (shared more fully tomorrow). There were some gaps between the elves created by their outstretched arms so I filled them in with some die-cut shapes cut from white cardstock using our Basic Mini Shape Dies 2 set for the mini hearts and one of the smaller snowflakes from our Snowflake Circle Frame Dies.

For my focal point images, I colored the elves with Copic markers and framed them with a stitched scallop circle using our Fancy Frames Circle dies. I used a sentiment from the set, stamping it onto one of the banners from Banner Basics which I inked up with mowed lawn distress ink and fussy cut out.

Card No. 9: Up next is a card showcasing Santa and Mrs.Claus from the North Pole Stamps. The set comes with a plate of cookies and a nice list for Santa to hold. I kept my card very simple, just inking up behind the couple with some Worn Lipstick distress ink and stamping the sentiment from the set below them. For my holly border and background paper I used prints from our Holiday Cheer Paper pack, adding stitching to the edges and a small scalloped border with the Slimline Basic Border dies. As a final touch, I added glossy accents to each of the holly berries on the borders.

Card No. 10: My last North Pole Card is another simple design using or new Window Quad Square dies. I backed the openings featuring Mrs. Claus, Santa and the elves with a patterned paper from our Very Merry Paper pack. My greeting combines the word "Christmas" from our Alpaca Holiday Stamps and the die-cut "greetings" word from our new Slimline Scalloped Frame dies.

Card No. 11: My final card of the day spotlights the fun mini poinsettia dies and stitched circles that come with our Window Quad Circle dies. Each of the 4 poinsettias in this die set have scored petals and can be "fluffed" up for extra dimension. For my flowers I cut a large and small version from red cardstock, inking up the centers with a little finger dauber and some Barn Door Distress ink and layering them together. I also cut a large green one from green cardstock for my leaves which I offset and adhered below my main flower, topping them with Wine Berry Pearls by Studio Katia in the center of each. For my sentiment I die-cut the word "Christmas" using our Christmas Garland Frame Dies and the word "merry" was heat embossed above it using our Merry Mice Stamps.


The Window Quad Square Dies also come with a little bonus to make use of all the openings which includes all the pieces you need to create mini tags which are a smaller version of our Build-A-Tag #2 dies. Here are just a few ways you can mix and match them using our Holiday Cheer Paper, Striped Silly Paper and Classic Gingham Paper.  For the word "to" I used our new Inside Greetings Holiday Stamps with some Versamark ink and white opaque embossing powder.

That wraps up today's sneak peeks.  I'm so happy to have you hang out with me today. I read all your comments and they mean so much!  I'd love to give a $25 gift code to one lucky winner using the rafflecopter below.  Make sure to keep checking back all this week for more peeks & prizes. The contests run through Wednesday, August 26th at Midnight PST with winners announced here on Sunday, August 30th. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's a closer look at the new Penguin Pals stamps & coordinating dies, North Pole stamps & coordinating dies, Winter Scenes stamps & coordinating dies, as well as the new Window Quad Circle Dies and Window Quad Square dies used today

    

    

  

Other Sunny Studio Supplies Used:

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tsukineko Jumbo Dauber Shop at: Sunny Studio	Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio	Frosty Flurries Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio
Polar Playmates Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Snow Flurries Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Fancy Frames-Circle Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Classic Gingham 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio
Striped Silly 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Woodland Borders Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Holiday Cheer 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Alpaca Holiday Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio
Staggered Circles Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Mini Basic Shape Dies II Shop at: Sunny Studio	Fluffy Clouds Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Surprise Party 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio
Santa Claus Lane Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Santa Claus Lane Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Christmas Garland Frame Shop at: Sunny Studio	Banner Basics Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio
Banner Basics Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Spring Scenes Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Spring Showers Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Spring Showers Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Slimline Basic Borders Shop at: Sunny Studio	Slimline Nature Borders Shop at: Sunny Studio	Slimline Scalloped Frame Shop at: Sunny Studio	Classic Sunburst Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio
Polar Playmates Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Sleek Stripes Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio