Inspiration Week: Birthday Balloon, Bold Balloons & Ric Rac Borders

Hello there!  I am super happy to finally share this season's newest layering sets called Bold Balloons Stamps & Dies, Birthday Balloons Stamps & Die and a new border set called Ric Rac Borders!  All of them will be available for purchase in our online store this Friday morning (yay)!  In the meantime, I hope you will kick back and enjoy this look at all the fun ways you can use them...

Card No. 1: I will admit that I immediately turned to Pinterest to jumpstart my creative juices for many of my cards today and I will do my best to give credit to each as I go along. ;)  For my first card I was inspired by THIS wonderful ombre card. I inked up my mylar heart balloons from our new Bold Balloons set in four separate color combos (linked below), popping up one on the middle right with foam tape for a little extra dimension. I then used a paper piercer to poke a hole in each balloon to string black thread through. I finished my card by heat embossing my sentiment with white embossing powder using a sentiment from our Sending My Love stamps.

Card No. 2:  For my next card I used my MISTI tool together with the MISTI creative corners to repeatedly stamp the word "love" at an angle from our Sending My Love stamps.  I then stamped my balloons in a variety of pink shades (colors linked below) and taped a coordinating color of baker's twine to the back of each for my balloon strings.  

To add a little interest to my center white panel I used the small zig-zag edge from our new Ric Rac border dies--They are quickly becoming a new favorite of mine.  ;) I finished off my balloon bouquet with a bow from our Holiday Style stamp set in the same colors used for my darkest balloon.

Card No. 3:  Up next is a card set perfect for gift giving (inspired by this card set HERE) that uses the star balloon from our new Bold Balloons set, together with the banner from our Sunny Borders set and a sentiment from Heartfelt Wishes.  For my background, I die-cut white ric rac border and adhered them to white cardstock to give them subtle texture that almost appears that they have been embossed.  I finished them off with a white scalloped frame from our new Fancy Frame Square dies shared yesterday.

Card No. 4: For this next card I was inspired by a card shared HERE that has the colors of the balloons match the sentiment down below.  Our Bold Balloons set comes with two different pieces of layering curling ribbon that add a really fun touch!  

For the bottom edge of my card, I die-cut the edge with the ricrac border die and then I inked up a piece of white cardstock with a jumbo dauber, blending together Festive Berries, Carved Pumpkin, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, and Salty Ocean.  I then took the trio of confetti images from the set and repeatedly stamped it to create a continuous pattern in those same colors.

Card No. 5: Up next are some ideas using the new smaller 3x4 Birthday Balloon companion stamps and die.  I just adore the look of these balloons when they are all stamped up with the three layers!  I was inspired by THIS card and put my own spin on it by inking up the bottom edge with distress inks that fade into the white background.  I then stamped it with some of the confetti from the set to match.  For my die-cut "happy" letters I used Lawn Fawn's Cole's ABC's dies.

Card No. 6: Up next is a clean and simple card that was inspired by this card HERE.  I created an overall white-on-white pattern like the inspiration card using a plain die-cut of the balloon with no stamping and then stamped a single red balloon using the Birthday balloon stamp set.  I then tied it with a red twine bow, heat-embossed a simple sentiment in white using our Heartfelt Wishes set, and popped it up with foam tape.  To add a bit more interest and color to my card I added a little border of red polka-dot paper along the bottom and a straight stitch with my sewing machine.  This would be a great card for mass-producing in different colors too!  :)

Card No. 7:  I wanted to create a card that truly showed off all that this small stamp can do by stamping it in a rainbow of fun colors.  I masked off the clouds for my background using the cloud dies from our Rain or Shine and Sunny Sentiments sets, before inking up my background with Colorbox Sky Dye Ink.  

I stamped my sentiment in the bottom left-hand corner and masked it off before moving on.  I then arranged by balloons loosely where I wanted them to go without adhering them and gently moved them aside as I took turns stamping the strings using a couple different stamps from the set that I adhered to my acrylic block in a wavy pattern.  When I was done, I added my balloons with foam tape onto my card panel and trimmed off approximately 1/2" from the length of my card front to allow room for my stitched zig-zag edge using the new Ric Rac Border dies.

Card No. 8:  For my last card I wanted to show how you can achieve a completely different look by using only the solid image from the Birthday Balloon set.  I was inspired by Laura Bassen's beautiful card HERE.  Instead of using a stencil like she did, I used my Mini MISTI to stamp the balloon image first in a light color and then to stamp it a second (and sometimes a third time) in a darker ink color that I applied to my stamp with a foam dauber.  It gave it a really nice and soft shadow to one side of each balloon.

When I was done, I stamped my sentiment in VersaFine Black Onyx ink and then masked it off to stamp and heat emboss my balloon strings with white embossing powder.  My strings weren't showing up quite as well as I would have liked so when I was certain my black ink was good and dry, I sponged on some Tumbled Glass distress ink over the top.  You could also reverse the order and start by inking up the bottom with the distress ink to begin with. As a final step, I added a strip of black and white polka-dot paper and rounded the corners with my We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper.

Stamping Trick: Before I go, I wanted to share a little secret I learned about stamping balloon strings.  I was really struggling to get them to stand up in a straight line and adhere them to my clear block until I realized I could use a clear grid ruler or T-style ruler to push them up against before adhering them to my block.  It worked like a charm and once I discovered it, it saved me a ton of frustration and heartache.  ;)

I frequently am asked which ink colors I used for my layered images.  While I think there are so many great options out there that can provide good results, these are the colors I used today for my stamped images (in the order shared from lightest to darkest)...

Pale Pink Heart Balloon (ombre card)
Stamps of Life Bubblegum
Hero Arts Cotton Candy
Hero Arts Pale Tomato

Dark Pink Heart Balloon (ombre card)
Hero Arts Cotton Candy
Hero Arts Pale Tomato
Stamps of Life Strawberry

Red Heart Balloon (ombre card)
Hero Arts Cotton Candy
Stamps of Life Strawberry
Colorbox Candy Red

Dark Red Heart Balloon (ombre card)
Hero Arts Pale Tomato
Colorbox Candy Red
Stamps of Life Cranberry

Pale Pink Heart Balloon (love card)
Stamps of Life Bubblegum
Stamps of Life Candy
Colorbox Pinkolicious

Hot Pink Heart Balloon & Bow (love card)
Stamps of Life Candy
Colorbox Pinkolicious
Colorbox Raspberry

Red Star
Hero Arts Pale Tomato
Colorbox Candy Red
Stamps of Life Cranberry

Orange Star
Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise
Stamps of Life Tangerine
Colorbox Coral

Yellow Star
Stamps of Life Lemonade
Stamps of Life Banana
Colorbox Dandelion

Green Star
Colorbox Tree Frog
Colorbox Grasshopper
Colorbox Golf Course

Blue Star
Stamps of Life Sky
Colorbox Moody Blue
Colorbox Atlantic Blue

Lavender Star
Stamps of Life Pixie
Colorbox Lilac
Colorbox Frosted Plum

Magenta Balloon (Born To Sparkle card)
Colorbox Candy
Stamps of Life Raspberry
Colorbox Burgundy

Blue Balloon (Born To Sparkle card)
Colorbox Poolside
Colorbox Bahama
Colorbox Moody Blue

Teal Balloon (Born To Sparkle card)
Stamps of Life Seaglass
Stamps of Life Ocean
Colorbox Jade

Hot Pink Balloon (Born To Sparkle card)
Stamps of Life Candy
Colorbox Pinkolicious 
Colorbox Raspberry

Lime Green Balloon (Born To Sparkle card)
Stamps of Life Kiwi
Colorbox Tree Frog
Hero Arts Grass Chalk Ink

Purple Balloon (last card)
Stamps of Life Grape
Colorbox Grape Slushy
Colorbox Imperial

*All other balloons, used colors shared above for star balloons.

I'm so excited you've joined me for today's sneak peek and I'd love to give a $25 gift code to one lucky winner.  Make sure to keep checking back all this week for more peeks & prizes for up to five chances to win.  The contests run through Saturday at Midnight PST with winners announced here on Sunday, January 14th. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway Here's a full look at the new Ric Rac Border Dies, 4x6 Bold Balloons Stamps & Dies, the 3x4 Birthday Balloons Stamps & Die featured today.

       

          

Other Sunny Studio Supplies Used:

Heartfelt Wishes Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Holiday Style Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Holiday Style Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Sending My Love Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio
Sunny Borders Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Sunny Borders Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Sunny Sentiments Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Colorbox Archival Dye Ink- Grape Slushy Shop at: Sunny Studio
Rain or Shine Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tsukineko Jumbo Dauber Shop at: Sunny Studio	Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio

Inspiration Week: Introducing Purrfect Birthday & Fancy Frames

Hello there!  I'm back with a couple more sneak peeks of our Spring release on January 12th!  Today I'm showcasing our new Purrfect Birthday Stamps & Dies and two new Sunny Studio Website Exclusive die sets called Fancy Frames Circles and Fancy Frames Squares.

Card No. 1:  For this first card I created my card base, pairing both sides of the largest 4.5" wide scalloped circle from our new Fancy Frames cut from two different colors of cardstock to make them stand out.  

I adore the darling kitty balloons in the new Purrfect Birthday set and they come with both the option of the outline as well as the solid image.  For this card I chose the outline, coloring in all my images with Copic markers.  For my background I watercolored it with some Daniel Smith watercolors in Permanent Green Lt. & Manganese Blue Hue, letting the grass fade into the skyline.

Card No. 2:  For my next card I was inspired by THIS adorable card by Amy Yang.  This time I chose to use the solid balloon image and the separate kitty face stamp to create my balloon bouquet.  You could use dye inks to overlap the colors for a fun look, but I decided to cut a couple masks from Post-it notes.  I started by stamping my first kitty balloon in blue and then working around the bouquet until it reached a fullness I was satisfied with.  I then used my Copic Multiliner 0.1 black pen with a ruler to draw in my little balloon strings and sketch some around the tummy of my kitty.

For my chevron-striped background I used some new Ric-Rac Border dies that I will be sharing tomorrow and inked them up in colors to match my balloons (using ink colors linked below).  Knowing most of them would be covered by my center panel, I decided to cut each border into smaller pieces to reduce my need to die-cut more and to save on paper.  It turned out to be a great way to use up my small scraps.  :)

Card No. 3: For my third card I wanted to show that these little kitties are for so much more than just birthdays.  I went clean and simple for this everyday card, featuring the square fancy frames and some simple inking with tumbled glass distress ink and my favorite jumbo dauber to ground my cat images.  

Card No. 4: For my next card I inked up a white cardstock panel with my jumbo dauber, alternating Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet, and Picked Raspberry distress inks.  I then used our Frosty Flurries stamps along with my mini Misti and those same ink colors to stamp a polka-dot pattern for my background.  I love that I can get extra mileage out of that little stamp and continue to use it throughout the year.

I framed each kitty with the smallest scalloped circle from our fancy frames set and sponged on some ink on a punched-out circle to fill the background to match those same three ink colors.  I finished my card by stamping my sentiment on a curve to match the curve of the die-cut banner from our Little Angels set and heat-embossed it with white embossing powder.

Card No. 5: Next up is another everyday card with sort of a comic strip feel using the second from the smallest frame in our Fancy Frames Square set.  I watercolored each background in a different rainbow color using Daniel Smith Watercolors and then added my little kitties which I fussy cut out over the top.  

I adore this punny sentiment!  Several of the sentiments in this set can be mixed and matched to say things with different puns and to mix with sentiments from our other sets.

Card No. 6:  For my last card, I used the medium-sized scalloped circle in our Fancy Frames set to ground my little scene.  For my background, I stamped a random pattern of confetti using the different confetti pieces that come with the set. My banner (from our Sunny Borders set) was stamped and colored using Mermaid Lagoon distress Ink, masking off the front portion with a Post-it note before inking up another layer for the tails to create extra depth.  When it was good and dry, I then heat embossed a sentiment from the set with white embossing powder.

I'm so excited you've joined me for today's sneak peek and I'd love to give a $25 gift code to one lucky winner.  Make sure to keep checking back all this week for more peeks & prizes for up to five chances to win.  The contests run through Saturday at Midnight PST with winners announced here on Sunday, January 14th. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway Here's a full look at the new 4x6 Purrfect Birthday Stamps & Dies and the new Fancy Frames Squares and Fancy Frames Circles dies today.  

The Fancy Frames die sets will be exclusive to our online store so that we can offer them at the awesome price point of only $19.99 per set!  I can't tell you how much I am enjoying them--I honestly couldn't stop reaching for them!  Each set includes 6 individual frames measuring up to 4.5" wide.  :)

     

     

Other Sunny Studio Supplies Used:

Little Angels Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Sunny Borders Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Sunny Borders Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tsukineko Jumbo Dauber Shop at: Sunny Studio	Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad Shop at: Sunny Studio	Frosty Flurries Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio

Inspiration Week: Breakfast Puns & Cascading Hearts Background

Hello there!  I'm so excited to kick off our official inspiration week all this week leading up to our new release on January 12th!  Today I'm showcasing our new Breakfast Puns 4x6 Stamps & Dies and a new Cascading Hearts 3x4 background stamp set.

Card No. 1:  For this first card I wanted to showcase as many of the stamps from the new set as possible so I created a border with the breakfast images.  For my background I sponged on some tumbled glass distress ink and then stamped a faint heart pattern using the new Cascading Hearts background stamp.  My sentiment ended up a bit higher than I had envisioned so to help bridge the distance I stamped the outlined hearts using some of the companion images from the Breakfast Puns set.

Card No. 2:  This set comes with a pair of arms and legs to add to any of the little breakfast foods making adorable happy couples.  The fun punny sentiments in this set make it a perfect choice for Valentine Day cards, but they aren't holiday specific also making them work for all year 'round.  For my die-cut hearts I used a freebie that will automatically come with all orders placed after January 12th (see more details below).  I die-cut them from red glitter paper and then coated them with glossy accents making my own homemade epoxy embellishments.

Card No. 3: For this card I stamped the cascading hearts on my background before using the sparkle shimmer spritz to add a light sparkle over the top.  The scalloped die-cut frames are from a new die set that will be showcased tomorrow.  ;)  I heat embossed my sentiment using Versamark ink with white embossing powder and adhered it to the back of the smaller frame before popping them up with foam tap in the center of my card.  I was able to hide more foam tape under the images for additional support. I added glossy accents to the donut glaze and coffee portion of the latte cup for a touch of realism. 

Card No. 4:  I just love this butter sentiment so this time I colored my toast to look like it was buttered and added two little butter slices to my waffle, strategically placed to cover the face on the waffle.  For my strawberries I added white seeds using a Sharpie White Paint Marker to match my polka-dot patterned paper.  I grounded my little scene using our Stitched Heart dies and heat embossed my sentiment with white powder on a strip of black cardstock that was die-cut with our Fishtail Banner dies.

Card No. 5:  For this card I colored a trio of the donut image with my Copic Markers and then added shiny highlights with that same Sharpie White Paint Marker.  To stamp my donuts with perfect spacing, I used my ruler to find the center and stamped my center donut directly on my card background and then stamp each donut friend approximately 3/8" from each side.  I then stamped all the arms and legs and added my colored donut images over the top.  This allowed me to hide any mistakes I might have made in stamping the arms and legs just right.  I finished by adding a little shadow below each donut with Colorbox Cloud ink using Paper Smooches Shadow Stamps.

Card No. 6: As many of our loyal customers know we have a special freebie with each new release that is automatically included with orders (no codes needed).  The spring freebie is a mini heart trio die perfect for shaker cards and small embellishments.

For this card I stamped my card front with the cascading hearts stamp, heat embossed with white embossing powder and then watercolored over the top for a resist technique.  I then die-cut a heart from the center using our Stitched Heart dies and stamped my sentiment on my card base before sandwiching some heart die-cuts in-between for a little shaker card.  I colored my slices of toast to look like Peanut Butter and Jelly for another fun way to use the sentiment "We Go Together Like.."

These are just a few of the many ways the Cascading Heart stamps can be repeated to create fun backgrounds. The set measures 3x4 making it easy to quickly stamp a couple times to create a horizontal background.  There are also 2 separate small hearts in the set that help continue the pattern for vertical cards as well.

I'm so excited you've joined me for today's sneak peek and I'd love to give a $25 gift code to one lucky winner.  Make sure to keep checking back all this week for more peeks & prizes for up to five chances to win.  The contests run through Saturday at Midnight PST with winners announced here on Sunday, January 14th. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway Here's a full look at the new 4x6 Breakfast Puns Stamps & Dies and the 3x4 Cascading Hearts stamps featured today.

      

Other Sunny Studio Supplies Used:

Stitched Heart Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad Shop at: Sunny Studio	Memento Tuxedo Black Marker Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tsukineko Jumbo Dauber Shop at: Sunny Studio	Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio

Fishtail Banner Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio

Fancy Frames-Square Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio

Sparkle Shimmer Spritz Shop at: Sunny Studio

VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio

Sneak Peek Week: Tiny Dancers Ballerina Card with Franci

Hi there and Happy Happy new Year!! Franci here with you today with a pretty card featuring the new little ballerinas!

These are so super cute and pretty, perfect for a lovely girly themed card! First of all, I stamped all my little ballerinas from the Tiny Dancers stamp set with Memento black ink and colored them with my Copics. Since my coordinated dies are still on their way, I fussy cut them out and put them aside. I die cut a stitched rectangle as my panel and colored it by sponging some Distress ink in the color of Spiced Marmalade. 

I also added the floor for my ballerinas to dance on and glued everything down with a combo of liquid glue and foam adhesive. Finally, I stamped all of my sentiments (I looove them!!) and added some sequins to finish it up.

We can't wait to show you the entire new release. I love all the happy new stuff so, so much! Start saving your pennies and be sure to come back for more inspiration and sneak peeks. Thank you so much for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Sunny Studio Supplies Used:

Tiny Dancers Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio