Sneak Peek Week: Introducing Tropical Birds Stamps & Dies

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

Card No. 1: Today I am showcasing our new Tropical Birds Stamps which feature three pairs of birds including toucans, cockatiels, and parrots. The set also includes a jungle tree branch, 4 jungle leaves, and a few small flowers which I didn't use for this card. I adore all the fun mix-and-match punny greetings!

For this card, I started by inking a white cardstock panel using a Mowed Lawn 1" distress ink cube directly to the paper. The cube was dry enough that it left streaks and I loved the results so much that I decided to just leave them as a fun background. It gives me the feeling of a dense jungle with a little light peeking through. I then lined up three Tree Branch Dies on my portrait-style card which I had cut from woodgrain cardstock and inked with Vintage Photo distress ink. Since these are tropical birds I thought the tree leaves might be larger so I borrowed the leaves from our Out on A Limb Dies inked with Twisted Citron and Rustic Wilderness distress inks. Before adhering my last tree branch, I tucked in the largest stitched circle from our Staggered Circle Dies bleeding off the right edge of my card, and used it for my greeting from the stamp set. My card was feeling a little bare along the bottom of my card so I ended up cutting a stitched strip from our Ribbon & Lace Border Dies from that same woodgrain cardstock to give a bit of weight to the bottom of my card and not make it feel so top heavy with the darker toucans on top.

Card No. 2: Up next is a card featuring the two toucans from the Tropical Birds Stamps. For this card, I paired them with some leaves from the set and the extra-long tree branch and jungle vines from our Tropical Scenes Stamps, and stamped the tropical leaves from our layering Radiant Plumeria Stamps behind them. I cut a little pennant strip from black cardstock using our Notebook Photo Corners Dies to stamp my punny "toucan do anything" greeting and added a basic zig-zag edged strip to the bottom of my card using our Slimline Basic Border Dies.

Card No. 3: I wanted to create a tropical sunset so I searched google for a good blend which inspired me to mix Squeezed Lemonade, Carved Pumpkin, Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean, and Wilted Violet distress inks for my background. I then started adding the tropical leaves from our Summer Greenery Dies die-cut from black cardstock around the perimeter of my card to create a frame which I topped with the outside border from our Frilly Frames Herringbone Dies. I used our Tree Branch Dies and the leaves from our Out on A Limb Dies which I had also cut from black cardstock to add to the center for the two green parrots from our Tropical Birds Stamps, adding a punny birthday greeting from the set. I love how the silhouette of the black leaves pops against the bright background!

Card No. 4: Next up is a moonlit night scene using the toucans from the Tropical Birds Stamps with the 2-7/8" wide circle from our Stitched Circle Large Dies to form the moon. For my moon, I started by blending a small piece of scratch cardstock with Squeezed Lemonade distress ink, smooching it with Mustard Seed distress ink, flicking on some watered-down Fossilized Amber distress ink, and then spritzing it with water. Between each of these tasks, I dried it with my heat gun. When I was done my cardstock was pretty bent out of shape so I sandwiched it with some junk mail in my die-cutting machine and ran the cardstock through several times without any dies to help flatten it before cutting it into a circle. All these quick steps gave me the textured surface of the moon I was going for and didn't take too much extra time to achieve. For my night's sky, I inked my card's background with Salty Ocean distress ink and then layered on Prize Ribbon, Chipped Sapphire, and Black soot on the outside edges before using a white gel pen to add some stars.

I then layered my scene with our Tree Branch Die and the leaves from our Out on A Limb Dies which I inked on one side with Black Soot distress ink to give them a more moody feel to match the darker evening lighting. After placing my toucan couple in the scene, I added three small hearts from our Basic Mini Shape Dies 2. Lastly, I die-cut a pennant strip from black cardstock using our Stitched Rectangle Dies and heat embossed the greeting "Happy Anniversary using our Happy Thoughts Stamps.

Card No. 5: For this clean and simple card featuring the Tropical Birds Stamps, I started by inking my cardstock panel with Mowed Lawn distress ink. I applied my ink pad directly to my paper like I did for my first card, but this time, I continued to apply the ink until the entire background was covered. I then dried the panel with my heat gun and stamped a repeated random tone-on-tone leaf background using three of the tropical leaves from the set with Versamark Ink. I then arranged my two yellow cockatiels on the branch from the stamp set floating in the center of my card and added a party hat to one of the birds using our Panda Party Stamps. Lastly, I rounded the two bottom corners of my card using a corner rounder tool and stamped the punny "happy bird day" greeting from the set on a speech bubble from our Comic Strip Speech Bubbles Dies.

Card No. 6: My first five cards are pretty vibrant (and in many cases very green) so for this card I wanted to switch things up with a light and airy design. I started by inking up my background using our Fluffy Cloud Border Dies with a light touch of Broken China distress ink. I then added a white cardstock panel over the top with a window cutout using our Stitched Semi-Circle Dies. I grounded the tree branch with vines from our Tropical Birds Stamps across either side of my window and added pink feathered birds, tucking deep pink and red hibiscus flowers around them using the mini flower image from the set. In the foreground on the outside of my window, I added a layered floral arrangement using our Hawaiian Hibiscus Stamps and Radiant Plumeria Stamps. I completed my card by stamping the "aloha" greeting from the Hawaiian Hibiscus set.

Card No. 7: For my last card of the day, I couldn't resist lining up the birds from the Tropical Birds Stamps in a loose row, colored with bright rainbow colors. I was able to lengthen the tree branch from the set by stamping and die-cutting two and then just hiding the seam with the body of my yellow bird. I framed my little grouping with the stitched rectangle from our Slimline Scalloped Frame Dies, adding a small strip of rainbow-striped paper from our Surprise Party Paper pack along the bottom. I finished my card by stamping the greeting "a little birdie told me it's your birthday!" from our Little Birdie Stamps.

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, April 20th at Midnight PST with the winners announced here on Sunday, April 21st. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway Here's a closer look at our new Tropical Birds Stamps and Dies used today and available for purchase on Friday, April 19th.

 

Other Sunny Studio Supplies Used:

Staggered Circles Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Out on A Limb Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Ribbon & Lace Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tree Branch Die Shop at: Sunny Studio
Radiant Plumeria Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Radiant Plumeria Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tropical Scenes Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tropical Scenes Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Comic Strip Speech Bubble Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Slimline Basic Borders Shop at: Sunny Studio	Notebook Photo Corners Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio
Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio	Panda Party Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Panda Party Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hero Arts White Detail Shop at: Sunny Studio
Fluffy Clouds Border Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Frilly Frames Herringbone Shop at: Sunny Studio	Stitched Semi-Circle Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Summer Greenery Die Shop at: Sunny Studio

Tsukineko Jumbo Dauber Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hawaiian Hibiscus Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hawaiian Hibiscus Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Surprise Party 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio
Stitched Rectangle Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Happy Thoughts Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Slimline Scalloped Frame Shop at: Sunny Studio	Stitched Circle Large Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Little Birdie Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio

Sneak Peek Week: Introducing Mermaid Kisses Stamps & Dies

Hello and welcome to Day 3 of our Summer 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: Today I am showcasing cards using our adorable new Mermaid Kisses Stamps which feature four unique mermaids, four punny greetings, several fish, and new coral & seaweed to be used on their own or to mix and match with all our other ocean-themed stamp sets. For this card, I used three of the mermaids from the set which I colored with Copic markers to appear as if they have blue iridescent fins with pink highlights. I also paired the seashell and kelp from this set with the other seashells, oversized rock, and plants from our Fintastic Friends Stamps and Magical Mermaids Stamps to populate the ocean floor of my little scene. I completed my card by stamping bubbles in the background both around the fish and mermaids and just throughout the scene to create a subtle tone-on-tone print.

Card No. 2: Up next is another ocean scene card, this time with a portrait orientation. For this Mermaid Kisses card, I added the coral and seaweed groupings from our Ocean View Stamps, mixing in some of the coral from the new Mermaid Kisses set to tie them together. I added a sandy sea floor using our Slimline Nature Border Dies and added one of the little starfish from our Magical Mermaids Stamps. This time I added some bubbles to hide a couple ink smudges I accidentally had in my background. I finished my card by stamping the "swimming by to say hi" greeting from the set onto our Brilliant Banner 2 Dies which I inked in a pink hue to match the coral in my scene.

Card No. 3: Up next is a bright and happy card which came together really quickly and I just love how it turned out! I lined up three of the same mermaids in the pose where she is lying on her belly from our new Mermaid Kisses Stamps. This card isn't a scene card like the first two were, but I wanted to give the feeling that they are lined up together on the shore. I started by piecing together my card panel background using a yellow sunburst pattern from Classic Sunburst Paper for my sky and two prints from our Summer Splash Paper for my ocean and beach. To add interest between the layers, I added a stitched edge to the beach layer using our Ribbon & Lace Border Dies. After the layers were adhered together, I then ran the entire card panel through my die-cutting machine using the largest label die from our new Limitless Labels 1 Dies. When I was done, I inked up the edges of the label to make them stand out against the background and then cut another label from craft foam to help pop up my label and make it stand out even more. Once it was die-cut, the bottom portion of the label with the starfish print gave me a natural place to heat-emboss a sentiment from the set. I added my mermaids all in a row to the center of my card, alternating starfish barrettes and a crown for the middle mermaid.

Card No. 4: Next up is a Little Mermaid-inspired card with the sitting mermaid from our new Mermaid Kisses Stamps perched on the shore using the palm trees and island from our Tropical Scenes Stamps. To set the scene around them I inked up a cloudy sky using our Fluffy Cloud Border Dies together with masking material. For my ocean, I inked up a strip of white cardstock with Tumbled Glass distress ink and then used my Copic markers in similar tones to draw in soft waves. The little fish popping out of the water comes with the Mermaid Kisses Stamps and I used the coordinating dies from our Tropical Scenes Dies to create an opening for him to emerge from the waves. I added the crab from our Best Fishes Stamps and some die-cut seagulls to my sky using a die from the Tropical Trees Backdrop Dies. Lastly, I stamped a punny greeting from the set and added a stitched scalloped edge to the bottom of my card using the slimline-style Ribbon & Lace Border Dies.

Card No. 5: For this card, I started by inking a super vibrant ombre background by applying my mini distress ink cubes in Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, Salty Ocean, and Prize Ribbon directly to my white cardstock. I then spritzed it heavily with water to help the inks blend together a little bit better and give the look of bubbles in my background. I had already colored all my images from our Mermaid Kisses Stamps and the sea floor border from our Tropical Scenes Stamps, however, I just couldn't get past the feeling that my images weren't looking great on this background. They just felt so much like flat cutouts. That's when I had the bright idea to color around my images with my Copics to help them blend in with the colors in my background. It took a little extra time, but the difference was huge! It made this card go from being something I wasn't feeling very excited about to becoming one of my favorites. I heat embossed the "mermaid kisses, starfish wishes" greeting in white embossing powder in the center of my scene which really pops against the dark background and I added a couple extra small starfish from our Magical Mermaids Stamps.

Card No. 6: For this card, I started by creating my patchwork background by using the 1.5" Stitched Square Dies together with scraps I had from our Summer Splash Paper, Dots & Stripes Pastels Paper, Gingham Pastels Paper, Polka-Dot Parade Paper, Classic Sunburst Paper, and Spring Fling Paper packs. To give the background a cohesive feel, I chose an ocean-inspired analogous color scheme in cool blue, aqua, and green tones. I then cut an oval from heavy-weight vellum using our Stitched Oval 2 Dies. By using the heavier vellum I was able to heat emboss the greeting from our new Mermaid Kisses Stamps without having to worry so much about it curling with the heat. I completed the card by adding a mermaid on either side of the greeting with the starfish from the new set.

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, April 20th at Midnight PST with the winners announced here on Sunday, April 21st. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway Here's a closer look at our new Mermaid Kisses Stamps and Dies used today and available for purchase on Friday, April 19th.

Other Supplies Used:

Magical Mermaid Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Magical Mermaid Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tsukineko Jumbo Dauber Shop at: Sunny Studio	Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio
Gingham Pastels 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Dots & Stripes Pastels 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Best Fishes Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Best Fishes Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Sending Sunshine Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Sending Sunshine Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Summer Splash 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Fluffy Clouds Border Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Spring Fling Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tropical Scenes Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tropical Scenes Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Slimline Nature Borders Shop at: Sunny Studio
Classic Sunburst Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Stitched Oval 2 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Fintastic Friends Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Fintastic Friends Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Ocean View Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Ocean View Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tropical Trees Backdrop Shop at: Sunny Studio	Ribbon & Lace Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Brilliant Banner 2 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Limitless Labels 1 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Stitched Square Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hero Arts White Detail Shop at: Sunny Studio
Polka-dot Parade 6x6 Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio