Paris Afternoon & Wonderful Windows Card Set with Mendi

Hello and welcome! This is Mendi, popping in to share some Parisian-themed spring and  summer cards showcasing our Paris Afternoon Stamps.

For my first card showcasing the Paris Afternoon Stamps, I heat-embossed the Eiffel Tower from the set using Hero Arts Brass Embossing Powder. To set my scene around the tower, I used the park border from the Spring Scenes Stamps, coloring one of the "hills" to become the Seine River. I added the extra trees, flowers, and butterflies from that same set, as well as the bike, the poodle on the park bench, and the "bonjour" greeting from the Paris Afternoon set. I had initially colored this bicycle a couple of years ago with flowers in the basket that didn't match my scene as well as I might have liked, so I remedied that by layering some other loose flowers over the top. Lastly, I added three die-cut clouds with a pink glow along the bottom from the Tropical Trees Backdrop Dies.

For my second Parisian-themed card featuring the Paris Afternoon Stamps, I wanted to build a scene using the latte, croissant, and macarons from the set. I thought it would be fun to create the look of an indoor cafe table with a window overlooking the Eiffel Tower. I started by adding a moody black tone-on-tone striped "wallpaper" using the Sleek Stripes Paper as my backdrop. I wanted something neutral that wouldn't compete with the other images and would make them pop, but sadly, I found it challenging to photograph adequately to capture all the details that are easy to spot in person. I chose to use black cardstock for my window frame and shutters using the Wonderful Window Dies. I did not include the interior window panes from this set to give a maximum view of the Eiffel Tower. I then added some clouds to the view using the Comic Strip Everyday Dies and added the small trees near the base from the Charming City Stamps.

Inside my cafe, I added a round table with a tablecloth by cutting a piece of white cardstock using the stitched hillside die from our Slimline Nature Border Dies. I wanted to stack the macarons onto a plate, but quickly realized we don't have any plates to match this scale. However, I was delighted to discover I could simply stamp extras of the cup and saucer and trim off the cup portion to hide where the cup had been with the croissant and macarons. I completed my card by stamping the "Enjoy life's simple pleasures" sentiment from the City Streets Stamps onto the Brilliant Banner 4 Die, which had been cut from a blue polka-dot print from the Polka-dot Parade Paper pack.

That wraps up my projects for this morning. I hope I've inspired you in your cardmaking and that you spread a little happiness by sending a card to a loved one today. 💛

Don't forget to check out our Spring Scenes Stamps, Spring Scenes Dies, and Patterned Papers in our online shop, which are currently on sale! 

I also encourage you to check out all the card ideas using these sets on each of their product pages. I always make sure to upload tons of ideas for each set following the product image so there are lots of ideas to scroll through there organized by set.

Supplies Used:

Paris Afternoon Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Paris Afternoon Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	City Streets Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	City Streets Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Spring Scenes Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Spring Scenes Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Charming City Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Charming City Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Tropical Trees Backdrop Shop at: Sunny Studio	Wonderful Windows Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Brilliant Banner 4 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Comic Strip Everyday Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Polka-dot Parade 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Sleek Stripes Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Slimline Nature Borders Shop at: Sunny Studio	PinkFresh Studio Blending Brushes Shop at: Sunny Studio
VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio	Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad Shop at: Sunny Studio	Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tsukineko Jumbo Dauber Shop at: Sunny Studio
Brass Embossing Powder Shop at: Sunny Studio

Sneak Peek: Distinctive Door, Holiday Add-on, & Inside Greetings Seasons

Hello and welcome to Day 4 of our Holiday Sneak Peek Week!  All this week I have been sharing cards showcasing our newest collection which will be available for purchase this Friday!

Today I am sharing ideas using our new Distinctive Door Dies and Distinctive Door Holiday Add-on Dies, and unveiling our newest inside greetings set called Inside Greetings Seasons Stamps. While I primarily plan to use these sentiments on the inside of cards for quick heartfelt messages in my holiday cards, I also used a few of the greetings on the front of my cards this week.

Card No. 1: I went with an everyday design for my first card featuring the Distinctive Door Dies. For the house porch, I used the brick border from our Sprawling Surfaces Stamps and cut thin strips of cardstock to adhere as vertical siding. This die set comes with two transom window options and I layered together one of them to form elongated windows on either side of my front door. To give my columns, pediment, and front door a more realistic feel, I die-cut them from Memory Box Woodgrain cardstock and inked them with Vintage Photo Distress ink. I then added the fun little door knocker, handle, mailslot, porch lights, and planters on either side of my door using the accessories from the new die set. Lastly, I added our new Brilliant Banner 3 Die which I positioned to look like it was being carried by birds from our A Bird's Life Stamps and used the "there's no place like home" sentiment from the same set.

Card No. 2: The new Distinctive Door Dies were designed to be the same width as our Wonderful Window Dies so you can use the arched windows interchangeably with the door like I did here. To get everything to fit within the confines of my mini blue bungalow house, I cut off the top arch from each of these windows and used one above the door. I then decorated my house with the curtains and flower boxes from the Wonderful Windows Dies and added a little metallic kickplate to my door with the alternate door handle from the set. For my house's siding, I simply used a clear grid ruler and traced evenly spaced lines with a Copic Marker in a slightly darker shade than my cardstock. 

To create my roofline, I used the triangular pediment die and took my scissors to snip out the bottom portion of the pediment to turn it into a gabled roof. For my roof shingles, I used our Dotted Diamond Landscape Die to emboss a piece of brown cardstock. I then used that same triangular pediment die to cut a notch out of the brown cardstock for the gable, covering the transition between the two surfaces with white trim pieces from the door set. Lastly, I used the holiday wreath from the new Distinctive Door Holiday Add-on Dies to layer under some of the tiny flowers from our Wonderful Window Dies to create a Spring wreath.

Card No. 3: Up next is card pairing the costumed doggies from our Happy Howl-o-ween Stamps with our new Distinctive Door Dies for a cute Trick-or-Treating scene. I fashioned my own fall wreath using the leaves from our Autumn Tree Dies which I layered over the wreath from the Distinctive Door Holiday Add-on Dies and added the spider webs and pumpkins from our Too Cute To Spook Stamps. I finished my card with a heat-embossed greeting stamped onto our new Brilliant Banner 4 Dies. I love how the door handle, mailbox slot, and lights cut from shiny gold metallic cardstock catch the light in person!

Card No. 4: Next up is a series of Christmas cards pairing the Distinctive Door Dies with the Distinctive Door Holiday Add-on Dies. For this card, I used the two garland dies and the garland pieces to go around each of the columns. The holiday add-on dies also include a new lantern option, a holiday wreath, two layered bows, and a new potted Christmas Tree. For my porch, I used the cobblestone border from our Sprawling Surfaces Stamps and fashioned a red door mat which I cut on my paper trimmer, adding texture with some stippling dots using my Copic Markers. 

Card No. 5: For my next Christmas card using the Distinctive Door Dies and Distinctive Door Holiday Add-on Dies I used the triangle pediment together with the snow drifts that come with the add-on set. This time instead of using all the garland pieces to decorate my house for the holidays, I used the various strings of lights to decorate my roofline and columns. Since there was already a lot going on with the colorful lights, I left my potted fir trees relatively simple, adding only colorful red pots and little stars to the top of each that come with the die set. To add some roof shingles and texture, I embossed a piece of black cardstock with our Buffalo Plaid Straight Die. I love how the colorful lights pop against the neutral black and grey colors of my house and the metallic silver accents! These dies are so fun to play with all of the endless options and combinations available!

Here's a look at the inside of this card with the sentiment I stamped from our new Inside Greetings Seasons Stamps. To dress up my greeting, I added a trio of mini hearts using our Basic Mini Shape 2 Dies.

Card No. 6: I went with a clean and simple design for my last card featuring the Distinctive Door Dies and Distinctive Door Holiday Add-on Dies. This A6-sized card is larger than a standard A2-sized card, measuring 6.25" wide x 4.5" high. This size better matched my vision for using the garlands from the add-on set to become scallops. Under the scallops, I used a black striped tone-on-tone patterned paper from our Sleek Stripes Paper pack. However, because they are only 6" wide, I had to cut along one of the stripes and piece two strips together to span the extra 1/4" width. It's a bit difficult to tell here, but the bows and ornaments on the trees are hot pink for a bit of a shake-up to traditional Christmas colors. With the extra space I had available, I was able to use one of the wonderful sentiments from our new Inside Greetings Seasons Stamps.

A Closer Look at Card No. 6: It was difficult to capture the full beauty of this card from straight on. I just adore how this card turned out with the touches of shiny gold metallic cardstock! A little bit goes a long way and I love how classy this simple design feels in person!

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 Distinctive Door Dies, Distinctive Door Holiday Add-on Dies, and Inside Greetings Seasons Stamps used today and available for purchase on Friday, August 23rd.

 

Other Supplies Used:

A Bird's Life Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	A Bird's Life Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tsukineko Jumbo Dauber Shop at: Sunny Studio	Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio
Too Cute To Spook Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Too Cute To Spook Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Autumn Tree Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Wonderful Windows Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Dotted Diamond Landscape Shop at: Sunny Studio	Sprawling Surfaces Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Happy Howl-o-ween Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Happy Howl-o-ween Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Brilliant Banner 3 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Brilliant Banner 4 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Buffalo Plaid Straight Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hero Arts White Detail Shop at: Sunny Studio
Basic Mini Shape Dies 2 Shop at: Sunny Studio	Sleek Stripes Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio