Sneak Peek: Puddle Jumpers, Spring Garden, & Mini Grass Border Dies

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

Card No. 1: Today I am sharing a darling 3x4 stamp set with so many possibilities and two versatile new die sets! My first card uses many of the images from the new Puddle Jumpers Stamps including the girl in the duckie raincoat, the frog umbrella, the duck, chick, puddle, raindrops, and punny greeting. I started by inking up the center of my cardstock with salty ocean distress ink in a circular motion to create a soft circle frame for my scene. I then die-cut an inch off the bottom using the stitched scalloped border die from our Ribbon & Lace Border Dies and tucked a blue striped strip of patterned paper from our Sleek Stripes Paper pack along the bottom edge of my card. My raindrops needed some clouds so I paired them with the three clouds from our Spring Showers Stamps.

Card No. 2: For my next card, I used the sitting duck and the baby ducklings from the new Puddle Jumpers Stamps with the pond, lily pad, and cattails from our Country Scenes Stamps. For my pond border, I colored the cattails and pond's edge with Copic Markers and then stamped a mask which I fussy cut to cover my coloring and inked up the pond portion of my card using Salty Ocean Distress ink. 

I then used the Country Scenes Dies to cut out the top of that scene to layer over the new Mini Grass Border Dies for the background, coloring around the edge with a green copic marker to help it blend into the background. These new grassy dies layer so well with the grass borders from our Picket Fence Dies and Slimline Nature Border Dies, but are on a smaller scale to work better for backgrounds and smaller images. For my sky, I cut cloud masks using our Plane Awesome Dies and inked up my white cardstock panel using Tumbled Glass Distress ink. Lastly, I stamped the Spring Greetings sentiment onto our Brilliant Banner 1 Dies which I cut out from Classic Sunburst Paper and Polka-dot Parade Paper scraps to add to the bottom center portion of my pond scene.

Card No. 3: For my next card, I paired the little ducky and the girl in her raincoat from the Puddle Jumpers Stamps with the kite, butterflies, and tulip flowers from our Spring Showers Stamps. To create my grassy circular frame, I started by die-cutting a circle using our Stitched Circle Small Dies from green cardstock. I then die-cut more stripes positioned at various sections of the circle, before running them through my die-cutting machine again with the Mini Grass Border Dies. When I was done, I inked up the edges with Twisted Citron Distress ink to help emphasize the layers and then mounted them all onto a larger white cardstock circle cut out using our Stitched Circle Large Dies. I mounted them onto a 4-3/4" square piece of pink gingham paper from our Classic Gingham Paper pack which had been given a stitched edge using our Ribbon & Lace Border Dies. Finally I heated embossed the "hi cutie" greeting from our Happy Hamsters Stamps.

Card No. 4: I couldn't resist pairing the new girl and frog umbrella from the Puddle Jumpers set with the other kids and critter umbrellas from our Spring Showers Stamps. This mini slimline card measures 7" wide x 4" high and I started by inking the bottom of my card panel with Twisted Citron Distress ink fading it up to white, before then inking the top of my panel with Tumbled Glass ink which I also faded out towards the center. I then stamped all my raindrops using the solid drops from the Puddle Jumpers set to frame my kiddos. For my clouds, I used the stitched border from our Slimline Nature Border Dies which also gave me a great place to stamp my greeting. I then set to work layering in my three puddles, kids, umbrellas, and ducks from the two stamp sets which I had colored with Copic Markers.

Card No. 5: For my last Puddle Jumpers card of the day, I chose a clean & simple design lining up a family of ducks in a row for a cute punny birthday card. A few years back I literally stopped traffic (with my car) as I watched a mom & her babies cross a busy 4-lane street from the side of the street with a small pond over to a Lowe's parking lot. I've thought about that duck family a lot over the years so this card is my ode to them. 

To have both a mama and papa duck with a little variation, I added in the duck from our Farm Fresh Stamps. I turned to our Mini Mat & Tag 4 Dies with the zig-zag stitched edge to frame them which I mounted onto a yellow print from our Polka-dot Parade Paper pack. My last touch was adding three sets of banners in a row from our new Treat Bag Topper Dies. To get them lined up and perfectly spaced, I cut out an extra set from scratch paper to use as my template to pop my die-cuts into. Those same little banner pieces were the perfect size to be turned upside down and become party hats for my duck family to continue the birthday theme for my sentiment.



Card No. 6: Switching gears, I now have several cards featuring our new Spring Garden Dies which include a watering can, hand shovel, trowel, flower pot, and various flowers. For this card, I started by using the colorful gingham paper from our Spring Sunburst Paper for my background and then stacked three of the stitched rectangle dies from our new Treat Bag Topper Dies to create three little scenes together with the straight grassy edge from our new Mini Grass Border Dies. I also added a hint of tumbled glass distress ink to the center of each section before layering them with the flowerpot and watering can elements. I finished my card by stamping a greeting from our Puddle Jumpers Stamps and adding two butterflies from our Basic Mini Shape 2 Dies.

Card No. 7: I couldn't wait to pair the Spring Garden Dies with our Wonderful Window Dies. I had so much fun creating all the different flowers to go both in the window flower box and in the flower pots down in the grass using the Mini Grass Border Dies. I cut the watering can, mini garden shovel, and trowel using some shimmery matte Silver Stardream Metallic Cardstock for a touch of realism. I bought a 25-sheet pack of this wonderful cardstock about 5 years ago and I have loved having it on hand to use for all my chrome and metallic die-cuts, but I think this one package will last me for the rest of my life since a little goes a long way so if you're interested I might recommend splitting a pack with a friend or each buying a gold and a silver to share. 

After I had my card nearly completed, I realized my card was feeling very empty on the top half of my card given my choice to use white-on-white shutters. To help balance the top half in terms of visual weight, I added the banner from our Treat Bag Topper Dies and a little bird from our Rustic Winter Dies. I also heat embossed a simple "hi" greeting from our Hawaiian Hibiscus Stamps in the top right window pane. I adore the extra color these gave my card and really love the way it turned out! I'm not actually a gardener, but this card makes me excited for spring!

Card No. 8: For my last card of the day, I lined up three terracotta flower pots with alternating daisies and yellow tulips from our Spring Garden Dies using our Window Trio Square Dies to frame them. I backed the window openings using our blue Polka-dot Parade Paper and then added a little stitched "ribbon" strip of blue gingham paper from our Classic Gingham Paper pack along the bottom portion of my card, cutting it using our Ribbon & Lace Border Dies. I then layered a hunter-green watering can over part of it in the left-hand corner and stamped an oversized "Spring Hello" greeting from our Cheerful Daisies Stamps in blue ink to match my patterned paper. I struggled to find the right color combination to match my rusty red flowerpots and went back and forth with various paper options for a very long time, but these colors finally fell into place and I love the results!

I sadly ran out of time to create everything I had in mind, but I also think these Spring Garden Dies would look so adorable paired with our Build-a-Birdhouse and Rainy Days Dies! I can't wait to see how you all use these fun sets!

That wraps up today's sneak peek. I'm so happy you joined me today! I'd love to give a $50 gift code to one lucky winner using the Rafflecopter below. Our daily sneak peek contests run through Saturday, January 6th at Midnight PST with the winners announced here on Sunday, January 7th. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's a closer look at our new Puddle Jumpers Stamps & Dies, Spring Garden Dies, and Mini Grass Border Dies used today and available for purchase Friday morning PST.

  

Other Sunny Studio Supplies Used:

Happy Hamsters Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tsukineko Jumbo Dauber Shop at: Sunny Studio	Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio	Window Trio- Square Die Shop at: Sunny Studio
Polka-dot Parade 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Rustic Winter Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Gingham Pastels 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Spring Sunburst 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio
Spring Greetings Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Basic Mini Shape Dies 2 Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hawaiian Hibiscus Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Plane Awesome Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio
Plane Awesome Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Cheerful Daisies Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Spring Showers Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Spring Showers Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Slimline Nature Borders Shop at: Sunny Studio	Farm Fresh Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Farm Fresh Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Classic Sunburst Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio
Sleek Stripes Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Country Scenes Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Country Scenes Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Stitched Circle Small Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Stitched Circle Large Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Mini Mat & Tag 4 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Ribbon & Lace Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Wonderful Windows Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Brilliant Banner 1 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Treat Bag Topper Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hero Arts White Detail Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio
Classic Gingham 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio

Sneak Peek: Introducing Gift Card Envelope & Treat Bag Topper Dies

Hello and welcome to day 3 of our Spring Sneak Peek Week!  All this week I am sharing cards showcasing our newest collection which will be available for purchase this Friday!

Card No. 1: Today I am sharing two brand new die sets with infinite possibilities that extend way beyond what their names imply as I was able to fill every available corner with useful everyday dies. Up first is a die set called Gift Card Envelope Dies. The name makes it sound a tiny bit boring, am I right? However, not only does this set come with an envelope perfectly sized to dress up your gift cards and give them in style, but it can also be used to create envelopes for classroom Valentine's Day cards like I did here! Also included are 5 unique hearts that don't overlap the sizes of any of our other heart dies, including a fun outline shape that can be layered with our Stitched Heart 2 Dies and Scalloped Heart Dies, plus two fun postage stamps, 3 different design options sized to fit within those stamps, three basic posey flower shapes, and the script phrases "sending my love" and "be mine" which are sized to mix and match with previous script words from other sets, including our Loopy Letter Dies.

For my mini card set, I used the pandas from our new Bighearted Bears Stamps shared yesterday. I kept my designs clean and simple to make them easier to mass produce, letting the images, sweet greetings, and cute paper prints from our Classic Gingham Paper, Striped Silly Paper, and Polka-dot Parade Paper packs take center stage. To add the "to" and "from" on the outside of my envelope, I used our Inside Greetings Birthday Stamps. For the "love is in the air" sentiment, I paired the word "love" from the gift card envelope dies together with the phrase from our Love Birds Stamps. I also couldn't fit the full die-cut phrase "be mine" on the card with the bicycle without it feeling crowded, so I partially stamped just the word "be" also from the Love Birds Stamps.

Card No. 2: Next up is just a little medley of options that you can create using the Gift Card Envelope Dies. I love that they are small enough to cut from our 6x6 pads of patterned paper. For these, I used our Dots & Striped Pastel Paper which is so fun with the double-sided prints. So many times when we craft we're really only able to use one side or the other so this is one instance where both sides of the patterned paper can be fully appreciated at the same time. 

For the phrase "for you with love" I cut the greeting from our Baking Spirits Bright Stamps in half so I could stack and stamp them in the smaller space. To adhere the flaps I would recommend using a 1/8" sticky double-sided score tape or a liquid glue pen. My favorite is the Zig 2-way Glue Pens because they don't have the mess of other liquid adhesives, can get in small spaces with just a small line, and have a super strong bond (when adhered while still blue before drying clear) which is extra important when using thicker patterned paper that stubbornly wants to go back to its unfolded state.

Card No. 3 & 4: Next up is a pair of Valentine's Day cards using all the fun elements that come with the Gift Card Envelope Dies, sans envelope. I started by making the card on the right, but then realized I had all the interior hearts left over from the outlined heart dies from the set and they would also make a really cute card. I love it when I can minimize paper waste and almost use every square inch!

Card No. 3: Taking a closer look, for this card I die-cut three of the hearts from the Gift Card Envelope Die set in three coordinating shades of red cardstock that became progressively lighter as the hearts got smaller. To build my base for each heart, I then cut a fourth lighter shade in a peachy pink color using our Stitched Heart 2 Dies to stack underneath. For my background, I cut a 4.25" x 5.5" panel of red cardstock using the middle shade to fill my background and layered it with the darkest shade of red which I cut using our Quilted Hearts Portrait Dies, cutting off a strip down the right-hand side to give me a straight line to stack my hearts on. I added the simple "be mine" greeting to the bottom left using the word dies from the set cut from white cardstock. I love how it pops against the deep red colors. Lastly, I added our Heart Shaped Pearls to the top of each smaller heart using Ranger's Multi Medium Matte which is a strong liquid adhesive that dries clear and matte.

Card No. 4: Next up is the second card using all the leftover scraps from the previous card. Since I indeed had been cutting the first set of hearts out using random scraps I save in a file folder labeled "red", I really had to scrounge for more scraps to match the hearts I was left with and that would also be large enough to fill my background for a second card. I settled on another card design where only part of the Quilted Hearts Landscape Dies is used with a diagonal orientation to give my card a little extra interest. I once again used the word dies from the Gift Card Envelope Dies to spell out "sending my love" in white cardstock and added the Heart Shaped Pearls to the center of each smaller heart. When I was done, I still felt my card was missing something so I chose to round the bottom two corners with the We R Memory Keeper Corner Chomper to add a little extra interest and jazz it up a bit. 

In the end, I really love how both of these turned out and I felt like I was right back in grade school making good old-fashioned Valentine's Day cards--You know the kind where you fold the paper in half to create a heart. Except I'm finicky about my hearts and I love how these fit my idea of a "perfect heart"

Card No. 5: For my next card, I was riding the wave of the school Valentine mindset so I paired a row of the cute postage stamps I assembled from the Gift Card Envelope Dies with the Notebook Tabs Dies, adding the lines, scissors, and pushpin from the A Cut Above Stamps, and the pencil from our Color My World Stamps. To reinforce the look of a handmade Valentine, I layered two of the open hearts for the Gift Card Envelope Dies and stamped a "Happy Valentine's Day" script greeting from our Happy Thoughts Stamps on the lines of my spiral notebook paper using VersaFine Clair Morning Mist Ink to look like it was written with the pencil. For my background, I used the cute pink "quilted heart" tone-on-tone patterned paper from our Flirty Flowers Paper pack. The finished size of my card is 5" square.

Treat Bag No. 1: Switching gears, I'm really excited to share our new Treat Bag Topper Dies. Once again these are compact enough to cut from a sheet of 6x6 Patterned paper with room to spare and they come with so many versatile dies that I know I will be using over and over again. The bag topper portion measures 4 inches wide so they are perfect to pair with 4x6-sized glassine, kraft, or clear acetate bags to create fun little gifts for every occasion and holiday under the sun. They don't have to be limited to sweet treats either. I think would be a fun way to dress up so many different small gifts!

This die set comes with a small elongated stitched rectangle die that I think is going to be in constant use in my craft room. It's just the right width to fit on a vertical card and three of them can stack nicely to create three smaller scenes (which I did for a card I am sharing tomorrow). It also includes a nice little banner, the word "happy" (which is a smaller, more versatile version of an older die we retired years ago seen HERE), and a cute layered party hat.

For these little cookie gifts, I used the reverse side of the same patterned paper found on my last card from our Flirty Flowers Paper pack and then used some red gingham scraps from our Joyful Holiday Paper pack. When creating A2-sized cards I'm always left with 1/2" strips of paper I don't have the heart to toss and they work so perfectly in instances like these to add a little something extra to projects. To make them look finished and an intentional part of my design, I ran them through my die-cutting machine so they would have the same stitching around the outside edges. I then added the pandas and the word "you" from our Bighearted Bears Stamps paired with the word "love" die-cut from red cardstock using our Gift Card Envelope Dies. Once again I intentionally kept this design really simple, making it easier to mass-produce for friends and family.

Treat Bag No. 2: For this set of Treat Bag Toppers, I didn't use my favorite accompanying stitched rectangle die and instead used the main die to add a scalloped edge to some pink gingham paper scraps I had sitting near my desk from our Gingham Pastels Paper pack. I then layered them with the Stitched Heart 2 Dies which had been cut from a pink polka-dot print from our Dots & Stripes Pastels Paper pack. This time I used a kraft bag to hold my little gifts so I thought it would be fun to color the birdies from our Love Birds Stamps in tan shades to match, positioning the birds to fill each side of the heart with a little tree branch for them to perch on.

Treat Bag No. 3: For my last treat bag idea of the day, I used all the pieces that come with the Treat Bag Topper Dies set to decorate my topper with a fun birthday theme. I was ecstatic when I went to my local Winco Grocery store and found generic candy-coated chocolates sold in bulk by the color. They only came in 4 unique colors, but I had already made my topper so it felt like kismet that they happened to have them in the same shade of yellow that I had used. The only elements I used outside of the dies that come with the set were the Dots & Stripes Pastels Paper for my party hat and the stamped "birthday" word from our Happy Thoughts Stamps. I'm very excited to have this birthday word die available to go with so many different sentiments from that stamp set!

Card No. 6: For my last project of the day, I couldn't resist putting those wonderful party hats and the cute banner from the Treat Bag Topper Dies to work with our Bright Balloons Dies and Perfect Gift Box Dies. When those sets came out this past summer, I immediately felt regret that there wasn't a party hat available to compliment them so this die fills that gap for me. To make my card extra happy and festive, I used prints from our Rainbow Bright Paper pad, adding the stitched edge from our Ribbon & Lace Border Dies and stamping the greeting using our Inside Greetings Birthday Stamps with Versafine Onyx Black Ink. I love how cute these elements look together!

That wraps up today's sneak peek. I'm so happy you joined me today! I'd love to give a $50 gift code to one lucky winner using the Rafflecopter below. Our daily sneak peek contests run through Saturday, January 6th at Midnight PST with the winners announced here on Sunday, January 7th. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's a closer look at our new Gift Card Envelope Dies and Treat Bag Topper Dies used today and available for purchase on Friday, January 5th.

 

Other Sunny Studio Supplies Used:

Color My World Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Color My World Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio	Classic Gingham 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio
Polka-dot Parade 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Rainbow Bright 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Happy Thoughts Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Gingham Pastels 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio
Flirty Flowers 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Dots & Stripes Pastels 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Inside Greetings Birthday Shop at: Sunny Studio	Quilted Hearts Landscape Shop at: Sunny Studio
Quilted Hearts Portrait Shop at: Sunny Studio	Stitched Heart 2 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Joyful Holiday Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Ribbon & Lace Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
A Cut Above Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	A Cut Above Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Notebook Tabs Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Bright Balloons Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Perfect Gift Boxes Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Love Birds Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Love Birds Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Bighearted Bears Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio
Bighearted Bears Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hero Arts White Detail Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio	Heart Shaped Pearls Shop at: Sunny Studio | Studio Katia
Striped Silly 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Baking Spirits Bright Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Multi Medium Matte Shop at: Sunny Studio