Sneak Peek: Meow & Furever, Lovable Llama & Circle Mat Dies

Hello and welcome to the first day of our Spring Peek Week!  All this week I am showcasing cards using our newest collection which will be available for purchase on Friday, January 8th. 

I'm kicking off the day with two new critter stamp sets and 5 new mix and match basic circle dies. Let's jump right in!

Card No. 1:  My first set of cards features our new 4x6 Meow & Furever Stamps & Dies which showcase 7 cute kitty images, along with 7 mix and match punny love themed sentiments (but I made sure when creating this set to include a couple greetings that would be suitable for sending cards to friends too). I just have to say I don't know what it is about cats and cardboard boxes, but my 12+ pound fur baby still prefers to find a good box laying around to his cat bed every single time. He did it just last week and it made me think of these stamps.

I started by coloring my images with Copic Markers and framed each image on a 1-3/4" stitched circle from our Staggered Circle Dies, layering them together with our new Scalloped Circle Mat 1 Dies cut from charcoal grey cardstock. I then mounted them onto a piece of hot pink patterned paper from our Polka-dot Parade Paper pack, stamping my sentiment along the bottom onto a little banner from our new Slimline Pennants Dies being shared more tomorrow.

Card No. 2: Up next I thought I would make a set of gift tags perfect for mass producing for Valentine's Day. I started by cutting my tags from turquoise cardstock using our Scalloped Square Tag Dies and then cut 2-3/4" squares from a slightly lighter shade using my paper trimmer to layer over the top. I then die-cut my hearts from red patterned paper using that same Polka-dot Parade Paper pack and our Stitched Heart Dies. I used the little circle reinforcer from our Build-a-Tag Dies and adhered some bows to the top made from bakers twine.

As a final touch, I used that same new Slimline Pennant Die to cut little sentiment strips for my tags. This die only has the "v" on one end, so after die-cutting it the first time, I flipped it around making sure to lock it in place with the existing stitch marks before running it through my machine a second time.

Card No. 3: While thinking about mass producing Valentine's I thought it would be fun to create some mini cards perfect for a child's classroom or tying to small gifts. I pulled out our Slimline Scalloped Frame Dies to form my card base which when folded in half to make cards that are 3-1/2" x 4-1/4" in size. I also used the interior stitched rectangle from that same set with half on the front of my card and half on the inside, stamping my "Happy Valentine's Day" greeting inside from our Happy Thought Stamps.

For my card front, I die-cut my 2-1/4" wide circles using our new Stitched Circle Large Dies cut from our Gingham Pastels Paper pack. With this design I love that I was able to utilize almost every last inch of my 6x6 Paper because I was able to use the edges for my half circles that bleed off the edges, cutting the pieces for all 4 cards from a single sheet. 

Just make sure to use some washi tape to keep your die in position to keep your die from slipping since this is pretty precise. If you cut your first two strips just a hair wider than 2-1/4", then your 3/4" strips will need to be just a hair smaller to account for this, but it totally works and I found I actually still needed to trim a bit off each of my half circles that bled off the top and bottom of my white card panel.

Card No. 4:  For my next card, I utilized the 1-7/8" circles from our Stitched Circle Small Dies, pairing them with a thin scalloped border from our Scalloped Circle Mat 1 Dies. This is the exact same scalloped circle die used in my first card with just a 1/8" larger stitched circle for a little bit different look.

I cut two pennants from our cloud print paper using our Summer Splash Paper pack and our new Slimline Pennant Dies. As you will see, I found myself using these for so many uses outside of slimline cards. I used the skinny pennant die to cut stitched strips for my greetings, cutting off the "v" on the end by die-cutting it a second time with the larger die so that it would be the perfect width to layer over the top of my banner and have stitching on all four sides.

I stamped my sentiments using VersaFine Onyx Black Ink and added a few small red hearts as accents cut from our Basic Mini Shape II Dies. 

Card No. 5: For my last cat card of the day I created a simple, punny anniversary card. I started by cutting 1" strips from our red heart print paper from our Very Merry Paper pack which I mounted to the top and bottom of my card base.

I then cut a panel from pink cardstock that was 5-1/2" x 2-3/4", die-cutting the edges with a new stitched scalloped border included with our Slimline Pennant Dies. This border mimics the edge of our Fancy Frame Dies, but it's the first time we've ever had a 5.5" wide version to span the length of a card and I'm very excited to have that new border die sneaked in there.  To frame my stamped kitty images I mounted them onto the scalloped circle from our new Scalloped Circle Mat 3 Dies.

Card No. 6: Switching gears, the second new stamp set I'm sharing today is our new Lovable Llama 2x3 Stamps. Can I just gush how much I love this set?! It has so many design possibilities for a mini set! It comes with the Llama, a stack of presents, a bow to wrap the llama up like a gift, some confetti, plus a little hello greeting. I used almost all of the images layered together to create this fun birthday card. 

Red is my signature color so I couldn't resist a fun red and white color scheme for this card, taking inspiration from his polka-dot gift. To perfectly space my over-sized polka-dots, I used a clear grid ruler to draw light diagonal pencil lines spaced 3/8" apart going both directions and then I adhered my stitched circles accordingly, using the smallest circle found in the Scalloped Circle Mat 1 dies. 

To frame my little guy, I layered our new Scalloped Circle Mat 2 Dies, adding a solid red scalloped mat beneath from the same Scalloped Circle Mat 1 Dies I used for my background. By doing this it kept my frame looking cleaner and wasn't as visually distracting as it was when I could see my background peeking through on some holes, but not others. I finished my card by stamping the banner from our Banner Basics Stamps in red ink using a sentiment from our new Inside Greeting Birthday Stamps which I will be sharing more of on Friday.

Card No. 7:  I think when wrapped up like a present, our Lovable Llama Stamps look so sweet for baby cards. I created both a boy and girl version with him and I think he looks darling for both genders. To create these cards, I used our Kinsley Alphabet Stamps to spell out the words "baby" with a simple heart from our Meow & Furever Stamps onto a mini clear block. Then using my same clear grid ruler with light pencil lines spaced 3/8" apart, I repeatedly stamped my background. This may sound time consuming, but I was able to make these two custom backgrounds in about 20 minutes and I love the results!

Since the background had a lot going on, I kept the rest of my card design fairly simple, using our Stitched Circle Small Dies and Scalloped Circle Mat 1 Dies to frame my little guy. I added a matching stitched scallop edge to the bottom of my cards using our Slimline Basic Border Dies and stacked a few of our "Congrats" word die-cuts from our Slimline Scalloped Frame Dies to look like white chipboard.

Card No. 8: For my last card today, I stamped my Lovable Llama multiple times to create a whole party of Llamas. We have a new scene set being fully unveiled on Wednesday called Country Scenes, but here's a little sneak peek of it colored in cool, subtle colors for a wintry feel. I added a set of balloons colored to match the gifts and party hats using our Floating By Stamps which I fussy cut with scissors and taped sewing thread to the back of to form my balloon strings. For my sentiment, I used another phrase from our Inside Greetings Birthday Stamps being share more on Friday.

That wraps up today's sneak peeks. I'm so happy you spent a part of your day with me today. I read all your comments and they mean so much!  I'd love to give a $50 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 Saturday, January 9th at Midnight PST with winners announced here on Sunday, January 10th. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's a closer look at the our new Meow & Furever Stamps & Dies, Lovable Llama Stamps & Dies and the circle mat dies used today (available for purchase on January 8th). 

I offset our stitched circle dies so that for the most part they may fill in some gaps in sizes to die sets you may already own, while still including a few good basic sizes. 

The Stitched Circle Small Dies are sized: 5/8", 1-1/4", 1-7/8", 2-1/2" 3-1/8", 3-3/4"

The Stitched Circle Large Dies are sized: 1", 1-5/8", 2-1/4", 2-7/8", 3-1/2" 4-1/8"

The Scalloped Circle Mat 1 Dies are sized: 1/2" 1-1/4", 2", 2-7/8", 3-1/2"

The Scalloped Circle Mat 2 Dies are sized: 3/4", 1-3/4", 2-5/8", 3-1/2"

The Scalloped Circle Mat 3 Dies are sized: 1", 1-3/4", 2-5/8", 3-1/2"

 

 

Other Sunny Studio Supplies Used:

Stitched Heart Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio	Polka-dot Parade 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Gingham Pastels 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio
Very Merry 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Scalloped Tags-Square Shop at: Sunny Studio	Banner Basics Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Banner Basics Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Floating By Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Floating By Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Kinsley Alphabet Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Spring Fling Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio
Slimline Basic Borders Shop at: Sunny Studio	Slimline Scalloped Frame Shop at: Sunny Studio	Country Scenes Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Country Scenes Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Inside Greetings Birthday Shop at: Sunny Studio	Slimline Pennant Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hero Arts White Detail Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio
	Staggered Circles Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Mini Basic Shape Dies II Shop at: Sunny Studio