Sneak Peek: Roly Poly Penguins & Snowmen in Sweaters Stamps

Hello and welcome to Day 5 of our Holiday Sneak Peek Week!  All this week I have been sharing cards showcasing our newest collection which will be available for purchase tomorrow, along with our 9th Birthday celebration festivities!

I am super excited for today because I have two adorable stamp sets to share which are so perfect for winter and Christmas cards!

Card No. 1: First up, is a card featuring our new Roly Poly Penguins Stamps. This set comes with seven adorable chubby penguins. I created these to be a larger scale to complement the polar bear from our Holiday Hugs. When asked what large critters people wanted to see next penguins were high on the list, but I liked the idea of going with a medium size for extra design flexibility and options. Just like with our Big Panda, Big Bunny, and Holiday Hugs, one of the penguins has dies that cut out their flippers so they can hold objects.

For this card, I started by die-cutting our Scalloped Square 2 Large Dies from white cardstock and then cut a square window just inside the stitched line using an Xacto knife with a metal ruler. I then used our Stitched Square Dies to cut out an opening from my 5" square black cardstock panel so that I could layer the two pieces and create a window for my penguins to peek around. I inked the front of my white card base using some tumbled glass distress ink and then stamped the "you warm my heart" sentiment in the center using our Mug Hugs Stamps.

Card No. 2: Up next is a fun card featuring the new Roly Poly Penguins, paired with a classic red and black buffalo plaid background which was created using our new Buffalo Plaid Straight Dies and the coordinating Diagonal & Straight Stripes Stencils. I added a lacy scalloped edge along the bottom using our Eyelet Lace Border Dies and framed my two penguins using our Stitched Heart 2 Dies. I finished my card by heat embossing "Waddle I do without you?" from our Penguin Pals Stamps onto a red wavy banner die-cut using our new Brilliant Banner 3 Die.

Card No. 3: I once again found myself unintentionally drawn to a particular color scheme with these stamps so I apologize if you are seeing a trend form. Ha-ha! For this card using our Roly Poly Penguins Stamps, I wanted to focus on the little coffee (or hot cocoa) cup which led me to use the cafe table and umbrella from our Paris Afternoon Stamps. I also used a red and white striped background I had made earlier with one of the new Diagonal & Straight Stripes Stencils in the 2-piece set. Coloring my umbrella in matching red and white stripes was just too tempting to pass up. 

To make it look like my center penguin is sitting behind the table, I used the penguin with no body and only arms to be propped above the table and then used the legs from another penguin to dangle below the table like he's sitting on a stool that lines up with the table legs. I framed my scene using our Stitched Rectangle Dies and added a sentiment from our Inside Greetings Seasons Stamps.

Card No. 4: This time I had the little Roly Poly Penguin hold a Christmas card from the set and paired him with the extra letters and mailbox from the Snail Mail Stamps. For my neighborhood backdrop behind him, I layered two of the borders from our Scenic Route Stamps and added a bit of sparkly glitter to the trees using Stardust Stickles. I found the perfect greeting to compliment my scene using a sentiment from our Holiday Express Stamps.

Card No. 5: For my last card today showcasing the Roly Poly Penguins Stamps, I wanted to create a pile of penguins with all the adorable different personalities from the set. My daughter had the honor of fulfilling her lifelong dream of visiting Antarctica this past December and seeing the large colonies of penguins so I reimagined them here huddled up together and dressed up for winter. It was so much fun coloring all their scarves, earmuffs, and hats in a rainbow of colors! For the trees in my backdrop, I used a border from our Winter Scenes Stamps and then stamped a punny greeting from our Penguin Pals Stamps.

Card No. 6: Switching gears, I have a card featuring our new Snowmen in Sweaters Stamps. This set includes seven adorable snowmen dressed for winter, two snowy trees, a number of unique snowflakes, the oversized "warm winter wishes" greeting I used here, and a "Yay for sweater weather" sentiment. For this card I let all the elements of the set take center stage framing them with our Stitched Rectangle Dies and using a pink confetti dot print from our Joyful Holiday Paper pack. The two little trees that come with this set are larger versions of the one from our Winter Scenes Stamps so I was able to bring in the smaller-sized one from that set for my background. I'm really happy to have the additional size options for this cute tree!

Card No. 7: For this card using our Snowmen in Sweaters Stamps, I created a rainbow cable knit background. I started by inking my cardstock panel with Distress inks and then embossed it using our Cable Knit Embossing Folder. I then colored the snowmen's sweaters in rainbow colors to match and framed them using our Stitched Circle Large Dies. I heat embossed the "Yay for Sweater Weather" sentiment from the stamp set onto a pink wavy banner die-cut using our new Brilliant Banner 3 Die. I had the stitched scalloped border sitting on my desk from our Ribbon & Lace Dies leftover from another card since the die from that set cuts both a positive and negative version on either side of the cut line. I adhered it to the bottom of my card and it added that extra bit of detail I was seeking to put the finishing touch on my clean and simple design.

Card No. 8: Continuing with colorful cards, I have a rainbow gingham background I created by embossing a piece of white cardstock using our new Buffalo Plaid Diagonal Die. I then took turns masking off every other row to ink them in a rainbow of Distress ink colors (substituting Picked Raspberry for red). I am so in love with how it turned out! In hindsight, I wish I had made several of these backgrounds at the same time assembly line style to have on hand for future cads so that I could ink the same color several times with the same mask before switching colors.

For my focal point images, I colored the snowmen from our Snowmen in Sweater Stamps to match the colors in my background and framed them using our Scalloped Oval Mat 1 Dies. I then heat embossed my sentiment from the set onto a banner die cut using our Brilliant Banner 1 Dies. Lastly, I added three snowflakes accents cut from cardstock colors to match using our Basic Mini Shape Dies 2 and Basic Mini Shape Dies 5. The third snowflake shown in green will be a free gift with all retail purchases in our online store, starting on Friday (while supplies last).

Card No. 9: For my last Snowmen in Sweaters card today, I paired three snowmen with the hanging lights from our Scenic Route Stamps and the smaller tree from our Winter Scenes Stamps to create the look of a Christmas Tree lot. It's difficult to see it, but peeking out a tiny bit from the background is a stitched snowy hill using our Slimline Nature Border Dies and a stitched edge along the bottom from our Ribbon & Lace Dies. I tucked a strip of striped paper from our Joyful Holiday Paper pack along the bottom and stamped the "season's greetings" sentiment from our Inside Greetings Holiday Stamps onto a Brilliant Banner 4 Die.

Treat Bags: I couldn't let this holiday season pass without creating some cute treat bags using our Treat Bag Topper Dies. For these gift bags, I used the patterned paper from our All is Bright Paper pack together with the snowman from Snowmen in Sweaters Stamps and the penguin from Roly Poly Penguins Stamps. I added the "Merry Christmas" greeting using the word "Merry" from our Merry Mice Stamps and the word "Christmas" from our Bells & Baubles Stamps. For my kraft bags, I used a 4x6-sized bag purchased HERE or you can alternatively use Wilton 4x6 clear bags and glassine bags.

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 Roly Poly Penguins Stamps & Dies and Snowmen in Sweaters Stamps & Dies used today and available for purchase on Friday, August 23rd.

Other Supplies Used:

Mug Hugs Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Stitched Rectangle Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Holiday Express Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad Shop at: Sunny Studio
Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio	Cable Knit Embossing Shop at: Sunny Studio	Basic Mini Shape Dies 2 Shop at: Sunny Studio	Merry Mice Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio
Scenic Route Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Scenic Route Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Eyelet Lace Borders Shop at: Sunny Studio	Slimline Basic Borders Shop at: Sunny Studio
Inside Greetings-Holidays Shop at: Sunny Studio	Penguin Pals Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Penguin Pals Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Winter Scenes Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio
Winter Scenes Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Snail Mail Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Snail Mail Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Stitched Circle Large Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Scalloped Oval Mat 1 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	All Is Bright Paper Shop at: Sunny Studio	Paris Afternoon Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Paris Afternoon Dies 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	Brilliant Banner 1 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Bells & Baubles Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Bells & Baubles Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Treat Bag Topper Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Scalloped Square 2 Large Die Shop at: Sunny Studio
Inside Greetings Seasons Shop at: Sunny Studio	Brilliant Banner 3 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Brilliant Banner 4 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Buffalo Plaid Diagonal Die Shop at: Sunny Studio
Buffalo Plaid Straight Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Diagonal & Straight Stripes Stencils Shop at: Sunny Studio	Basic Mini Shape Dies 5 Shop at: Sunny Studio	Red Zircon Jewels Shop at: Sunny Studio
Rubellite Pink Jewels Shop at: Sunny Studio	Peridot Green Jewels Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hero Arts White Detail Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink 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

Sneak Peek: Crisp Apple, Wood Barrel, & Punny Apple Greetings

Hello and welcome to Day 3 of our Holiday 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 featuring cards using our new Crisp Apple Dies which come with both small and large apples and an optional apple core, layered Wood Barrel Dies, and a 3x4 Punny Apple Greetings Stamp set which I used together on my first card.

For my apples, I started by die-cutting them from white cardstock and then inked them up first with Candied Apple Distress ink and then a little Fired Brick along the left edge to create a shadow. I made sure to not ink and allow some of the white cardstock to peek through to form the shine along the right side and I love how quickly they came alive! The wood barrel was designed with cut lines between each of the wood slats so that you can slide some scratch paper in between and ink them up on one side to add extra dimension before layering on the three riveted metal "rings". I cut mine from metallic cardstock to add an extra touch of realism.

My backdrop was created by pairing the new Buffalo Plaid Straight die together with our Diagonal & Straight Stripes Stencils to form a custom-made textured gingham background. To frame my barrel of apples I used our Stitched Arch Dies and then topped it with a red banner cutout using our Brilliant Banner 4 Dies and heat embossed a punny sentiment from the Punny Apple Greetings Stamps.

Card No. 2: For my next card I used the larger apple size from our new Crisp Apple Dies, adding a bite from the top one using the pom-pom die from our Warm & Cozy Dies. To frame my three apples, I used our Window Trio Square Dies and tucked a zig-zag edge behind them along each side using our Ric-Rac Border Dies. I mounted them onto a red striped panel which I created with the new Diagonal & Straight Stripes Stencils and the same matching Candied Apple Distress ink that I had used to ink up my apples. Lastly, I tucked in a sentiment under the bottom apple using the Punny Apple Greeting Stamps, heat-embossing the greeting onto the Brilliant Banner 3 Dies which had been inked up to match my green stiched square windows.

Card No. 3: Are we seeing a trend here? While I didn't set out to create a series of red and green cards, apparently the complimentary color scheme was really speaking to me. Ha-ha! This card started out with the Stitched Heart window which I had leftover from another card that I will be sharing on Friday. 

This panel was the very first background I ever made using our new Buffalo Plaid Diagonal Dies which I had inked with a gingham print using our new Diagonal & Straight Stripes Stencils. I quickly realized I should have pulled out my favorite stencil spray to keep the stripes from shifting with the movement of my ink-blending brushes. As a Pacific NW gal, I hate to see anything go to waste so rather than tossing my first attempt, I hid the wobbliness of my lines by inking the background with some Worn Lipstick Distress ink. When it comes to patterned paper I'm often drawn to tone-on-tone prints without stark white so this not only solved my boo-boo, but also ended up being exactly my style.

For my focal point, I added two sliced apples from our new Crisp Apple Dies and paired them with the cute worm from our Garden Critters Stamps. I heat embossed a Punny Apple Greeting using White Detail Embossing Powder onto our Brilliant Banner 1 Dies which were inked in a green ombre to match the apple leaves. Lastly, I added a stitched edge to the bottom of my red gingham panel and tucked behind it a white scalloped lace edge using our Ribbon & Lace Border Dies.

Card No. 4: Introducing a new color to the mix, for this card I ink my background using Broken China with our new Buffalo Plaid Diagonal Dies and Diagonal & Straight Stripes Stencils. This time I accidentally had my cardstock shift when I attempted to run the panel through my machine a second time, but once again I saved it from the trash bin figuring it could use it for a card where most of it was covered. Can we see a theme here? Ha-ha! I thought it would be the perfect compliment to this sweet card featuring the Crisp Apple Dies on a tree branch using the Out on a Limb Dies. I framed the scene using our Stitched Rectangle Dies, stamped a Punny Apple Greeting along the bottom, and finished off my design with a blue butterfly to match using our Watering Can Stamps.

Card No. 5: I thought the Crisp Apple Dies and Wood Barrel Dies would look so great with our Autumn Tree Die which comes with the option to add little matching apples. To save myself from needing to fill in a full set of leaves on my tree, I drew a rough circle on the back of a piece of white cardstock and then sketched in some irregular scallops to fussy cut with my scissors. I then flipped it over and used the other side to ink up and position behind my tree. I kept the rest of my 4x8 inch vertical slimline card design quite simple, adding only a little grass behind my barrel of apples using the Slimline Nature Border Dies and a heat-embossed sentiment with our Punny Apple Greetings Stamps.

Card No. 6: For this next card, I paired the pumpkins from our Pumpkin Patch Dies with the new Wood Barrel Dies which I thought was such a fun combination! Like my apples, these pumpkins started out being die-cut from white cardstock and were inked with Picked Pumpkin Distress ink to add extra dimension and 3D realism. I was really feeling the gingham backgrounds for these cards so I once again paired the new Buffalo Plaid Diagonal Dies and Diagonal & Straight Stripes Stencils using the same Picked Pumpkin Distress ink to match. I added a Stitched Rectangle to frame my scene, stamping the "Happy Autumn" greeting from our Crisp Autumn Stamps.

Card No. 7: My last card of the day pairs the new Wood Barrel Dies with the pumpkins from our Pretty Pumpkin Stamps, the leaves and pumpkins from our Crisp Autumn Stamps, and the "thanks for your kindness" sentiment from our Autumn Greetings Stamps. I kept the rest of this 4x8 inch horizontal slimline card very simple, blending the center of my white background with an ombre that blends from blue to green using Broken China and Twisted Citron Distress inks.

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 Crisp Apple Dies, Wood Barrel Dies, and Punny Apple Greetings Stamps used today and available for purchase on Friday, August 23rd.

 

Other Supplies Used:

Stitched Rectangle Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Crisp Autumn Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Crisp Autumn Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Tsukineko Jumbo Dauber Shop at: Sunny Studio
Autumn Greetings Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Pretty Pumpkins Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Pretty Pumpkins Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Ric Rac Border Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Window Trio- Square Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Stitched Arch Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Slimline Nature Borders Shop at: Sunny Studio	Out on A Limb Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Stitched Heart 2 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Watering Can Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Watering Can Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Autumn Tree Die Shop at: Sunny Studio
Pumpkin Patch Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Garden Critters Stamps Shop at: Sunny Studio	Garden Critters Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Ribbon & Lace Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio
Brilliant Banner 1 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Brilliant Banner 3 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Brilliant Banner 4 Dies Shop at: Sunny Studio	Buffalo Plaid Diagonal Die Shop at: Sunny Studio
Buffalo Plaid Straight Die Shop at: Sunny Studio	Diagonal & Straight Stripes Stencils Shop at: Sunny Studio	Hero Arts White Detail Shop at: Sunny Studio	VersaMark Watermark Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio
Versafine Onyx Black Ink Shop at: Sunny Studio