Sneak Peek: Autumn Garland, Buffalo Plaid Dies, & Striped Stencils

Hello and welcome to the first day of our Holiday Sneak Peek Week!  All this week I will be sharing cards showcasing our newest collection which will be available for purchase this Friday!

Card No. 1: I'm thrilled to kick off today sharing a beautiful new stamp set for fall called Autumn Garland. There is no need to work at layering individual images in a perfect way because they have already been grouped together in a gorgeous arrangement that is so easy to use! For my first card, I chose to stamp them using Hero Arts Contour Ink for a no-line coloring technique with my Copic Markers. 

When positioning the garland on my vertical card, I didn't want the leaves and berries I cut off to go to waste so I tucked them under the main garland to fill out some of the white space around my sentiment from the stamp set. I then added a matching orange striped tone-on-tone print from our Sleek Stripes Paper pack and rounded the bottom two corners of my card using a Corner Chomper.

Card No. 2: For my next card I chose to stamp the Autumn Garland Stamps onto Bristol Paper using clear VersaMark Ink, which I then heat embossed using Brass Embossing Powder, and colored using watered-down distress re-inkers. To compliment my brass embossing, I used a strip of metallic gold cardstock for the center of my card and layered it with another greeting from the Autumn Garland Stamps.

Card No. 2 Detail Shot: Seeing the card at an angle better shows how the beautiful metallics catch the light.

Card No. 3: For this next card, I used the new Autumn Garland Stamps to stamp a repeating tone-on-tone background. I then used the layered leaves from our Crisp Autumn Stamps to form a wreath framing my greeting from the Autumn Garland Stamps. To help keep my wreath symmetrical, I used a circle from our Stitched Circle Large Dies. A trio of hearts from our Basic Mini Shape 2 Dies topped with Glossy Accents was the perfect finishing touch.

Card No. 4: Next up I returned to my favorite Copic Markers to color the Autumn Garland Stamps. When I decided to use the rich dark blue for my background, I didn't like how the stark white background around my stamp image stood out so to help it blend better, I colored around them with my B95 marker to help them better blend with the background. 

Using the garland piece as my guide I then lightly penciled in a cut line between the top and bottom portion of my card where I could cut them apart with my scissors. For the bottom portion, I added the embossed texture using our new Buffalo Plaid Diagonal Die. Cutting the two sides apart, gave me the smooth portion to heat emboss my sentiment onto from our Inside Greetings Seasons Stamps (which I will be sharing more of throughout the week). Lastly, I popped up my focal point image with black foam squares. Shockingly this was my first time using them and it was life-changing when working with darker colors. Where white would have easily caught the eye when viewing this card at an angle in person, the black foam adhesive completely fades into the shadows! I'm sold and will be ordering a big roll of THIS very soon.

Card No. 5: For this card, I thought it would be fun to show that these Autumn Garland Stamps don't have to be limited to only fall-themed cards. I started by stamping the images onto masking material and then fussy cut the mask with scissors, using the outside portion to protect the negative parts of my image so I could quickly ink them with a rainbow blend of distress inks. I was able to reuse the masks to ink up multiple images for my card and then went back and added some white highlights with a gel pen. To add interest to my background and still keep things clean and simple, I cut a panel using our new Buffalo Plaid Straight Die. Lastly, I colored a scrap of cardstock with a similar rainbow blend and die-cut out the "Happy Birthday" phrase using a die that comes with our Blooming Frame Dies.

Here's a closer look at the mask I created to ink my stamped images in a rainbow of Distress inks. For the berries, I found it easier to not mask around the individual berries so I colored them to seamlessly blend in using my Copic markers.

Card No. 6: Keeping with the idea of stretching these stamps for other seasons, my next two cards showcase Christmas cards using the Autumn Garland Stamps. I stamped the main images using clear VersaMark Ink, heat-embossed them using White Detail Embossing Powder, and colored them with watered-down Distress re-inkers.

For this card, I created the textured gingham print for the bottom portion of my card using our new Buffalo Plaid Diagonal Die with our new Diagonal & Straight Stripes Stencils. I cut my panel in half and saved the other half to have on hand for a future card. I finished my card by adding an oversized sentiment from our Season's Greetings Stamps.

Card No. 7: I love pink and green Christmas cards so for my last card today I used the complimentary fir tree sprig that comes with the Autumn Garland Stamps to repeatedly stamp pink tree branches in my background and then inked up around them using Spun Sugar Distress ink. I cut off some of the berries in one spot on the garland and added them on the other end to balance out the pops of red on both sides of my card and then filled in the arrangement with the extra pinecones from the set. I then cut a little bit off the bottom of my card panel to tuck in a small strip of pink gingham paper from our Gingham Pastels Paper pack and added a sprinkle of pink pearls from our Iridescent Pearls. Lastly, I added the word "Season's" from our Holiday Greetings Stamps which I paired with the word "greetings" from our Autumn Garland Stamps. I love the way this came together!

That wraps up today's sneak peek. I'm so happy you joined me today! I'd love to give a $25 gift code to one lucky winner using the Rafflecopter below. Our daily contests will run through Monday, August 26th at Midnight PST with winners announced here on Friday, August 30th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Here's a closer look at our new Autumn Garland Stamps & Dies, Buffalo Plaid Straight Die, Buffalo Plaid Diagonal Die, and Diagonal & Straight Stripes Stencils used today and available for purchase on Friday, August 23rd.

And here's a look at some of the additional ways the Buffalo Plaid Dies and new stencils can be used together. The stencils work best with a stencil spray to prevent the stripes from wobbling or moving with ink application so with that in mind, I was able to create a number of backgrounds in a single sitting while the stencils were still tacky since cleaning the stencils afterward is the most time-consuming part of the process.

The combinations are truly endless! I had so much fun with them and it was equally fun having these backgrounds pre-made to grab for quick cards. I will be sharing so much more with them throughout the week, including a rainbow gingham I made with a little masking.

Other Supplies Used:

Crisp Autumn Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Crisp Autumn Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tsukineko Jumbo Dauber Shop at: Sunny Studio	Gingham Pastels 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio
Season's Greetings Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Blooming Frame Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Sleek Stripes Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Season's Greetings Word Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Stitched Circle Large Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Holiday Greetings Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Holiday Greetings Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Iridescent Pearls Shop at: Sunny Studio
Versafine Clair Ink- Acorn Shop at: Sunny Studio	Brass Embossing Powder Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hero Arts White Detail Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio
Basic Mini Shape Dies 2 Shop at: Sunny Studio	Inside Greetings Seasons Shop at: Sunny Studio	PinkFresh Over The Hills Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio	Ranger Glossy Accents Shop at: Sunny Studio