Oink Trio of Birthday Cards by Ellen Haxelmans

Squeal! You'll Love with These Piggy Cards by Ellen!

Today we have a trio of adorable piggy cards created by Ellen! She used the adorable pig images from our Oink Stamp Set to create three fun pig cards! For the first card (shown above) she used the piggy with the birthday cake. She colored the image and used the coordinating Oink Die Set to cut the image out. Then she layered it over a fun yellow splattered background that was cut out using our
Frames Squared Die Set.

If you like this splattered look on this little background piece, scroll to the end of this post for instructions on how to do this technique! 

For the background she used our  for the large scalloped border. She also cut out the stitched rectangle using our Frames & Flags Die Set and stenciled confetti on it using our Confetti Stencil.

For the second piggy card, Ellen used the image of the pig with the big bow from our Oink Stamp Set and paired him with a pie slice from our Newton's Thanksgiving Stamp Set. So cute! She cut the images out with the coordinating Oink Die Set and Newton's Thanksgiving Die Set. She used a similar layout as the last card, adding layers using our Frames & Flags Die Set and Frames Squared Die Set. This time she used the Hardwood Stencil for the background panel.

The third piggy card using the cute image of the pig from our Oink Stamp Set lying on the ground. This time she paired the pig with the champagne glass from the Newton's New Year Stamp Set  and party hat from the Newton Celebrates Stamp Set. She used the coordinating dies to cut the pieces out and layered them again with shapes from our Frames & Flags Die Set and Frames Squared Die Set. On this card she also used our Bubbly Stencil for the background bubbles and added the "sip happens" sentiment from our Wine a Little Stamp Set.

Here's a little tutorial from Ellen on how to make the Splattered Backgrounds! 

• First apply your ink. It's best to use an ink that reacts with water like Distress ink or Oxide inks. I used Oxide inks. After that I used water. For this I use a mini mister with water. Take out the nozzle and tap with your finger on it. The water drops will fall on your paper. Wait till you see the ink reaction from the water and then dab wet areas away with a towel.
• You can do the same ‘tapping’ technique with white Dylusions White Linen ink. The only difference is that I heat it with my heat gun to dry.
• The last step is to apply a glimmer ink. For this I use Glitter Sprays are my favorite. After you sprinkled the ink, you dab the ink off with a towel.

If you love this project by Ellen you can visit her over at her blog Crafty Ellen to see more of her beautiful creations!

No Whining – Just Good Wine Here Cards by October Guest Designer Bobbi Lemanski

Hi there! It’s Bobbi Lemanski, the October guest designer for Newton’s Nook. Today, I’m sharing some cards using the stamp set, Wine A Little along with a few other sets. You certainly won’t hear any whining from me, because I loved working with this flavorful wine set!  

An Aging Wine is a Fine Wine!

Figure 1: Card features Wine a Little and Beautiful Leaves stamp sets and dies.

My first card pairs Wine a Little (and dies) and Beautiful Leaves (and dies) stamps sets together. Using purples, pinks and reds, I watercolored the background on Canson XL watercolor paper, mimicking the look of spilled wine. The leaves and wine images were colored using Copic Markers in colors that “age” the look of the bottles and their labels. 

Figure 2: A watercolor background mimics the look of spilled wine.

This card has an amazing color vibrancy from the watercolors that contrasts well with the gray-tones of the leaves. No perfection needed here…. spilled wine is good wine in this case!

Book Club Gal Pals

Figure 1: An oversized wine bottle, glass and cork makes fun of the amount of wine consumed at book club.

When I hear wine, I immediately think of my book club gals in my town. These amazing ladies love reading lots of books and drinking fine wine while we discuss each book. This card was completely inspired by them. The phrase from the set was perfect for this idea.

Figure 2: Combining two sets can create humorous and unique card ideas.

I used the lovely ladies in Classy Teachers and Holding Happiness to represent the book club gals. With a few minor modifications to the cake lady (in HH), I was able to create a gal holding a tray of books to go with the two gals from Classy Teachers. I created room for them to gather in using a few lines and a ruler.

Figure 3: Personalize your message with a white gel pen on a black chalkboard.

I love the idea of personalizing the chalkboard with any message. Think of all the things you can do with Classy Teachers! Even if your handwriting is less than perfect, don’t worry. A chalkboard is meant to be a little messy and imperfect (look at mine!)

Wine a Lot… Like a Million, Billion, Zillion!

Figure 2: Alcohol Inks on a transparency sheet create an artistic window.

My next card combines Wine a Little stamp set and dies with the Thankful Thoughts phrase set. One of the phrases in the set says, Thanks a million, billion…etc. I loved the idea of showing lots of gratitude not only in the words, but in the images (as you will see in the inside), too.

Figure 3 Wine a Little  stamps and dies were used to embellish the front.

I also used “You’re the best!” from Thankful Thoughts and “Here’s to you!” from Cocktail Mixer. Sequins accented the images from Wine a Little on the front.

Figure 4 Stacks of wine bottles visually portray the huge amounts of gratitude expressed in words.

I wanted to portray the huge amount of gratitude in the images to match the phrase, so I stacked the wine bottles up to create a wall of bottles in the inside that could show through the window.

The window is covered with an alcohol-inked transparency sheet I created. I find working with alcohol inks to be fascinating. I love how the red and pink inks mixed and blended on this one. I also used Alcohol Lift Ink from Ranger to remove the ink to match the design underneath. By placing the transparency sheet over the cardstock (I put the cardstock piece in a bag to protect it), I matched the bottles and lifted the ink.  You can see it here in this photo with the light capturing the lifted design. It allowed the images stamped in the inside of the card to really show through from the front.  

I’ll have another set of cards to share next week. I raise my wine glass to Newton’s Nook for these great sets and to you, for joining me today! 

- Bobbi Lemanski                                                         

A birthday card with Wine by Jennifer Jackson

A Wine-themed Birthday Wish!

Hello! Jen here today with a birthday card that is perfect for a wine lover! I combined our Sending Hugs Stamp Set and Wine A Little Stamp Set to create this fun card! I started out by coloring Winston, our cute little bear, from the Sending Hugs Stamp Set with copic markers. I also stamped and colored three little gifts and a bottle of Wine from this stamp set. I cut all these images out using the coordinating Sending Hugs Die Set. This die set is super cool because it also cuts around the arms of the animals so then can easy lift up to hold the accessories. For this card I put the bottle of wine in the bears arms. Then I created a little scene for my card, adding a  few hills cut from green striped and polka dotted patterned paper using our Land Borders Die Set. I then put the hills onto the bottom of a white cardstock paper and added the bear with his wine and gifts on top with some dimensional foam tape. I then grabbed the big "Age is not important unless you're wine" sentiment from the Wine A Little Stamp Set and stamped it into the sky. 

To finish off the card, I added a strip of washi tape and some blue twine and mounted it all onto a kraft colored card base. I love the way you can mix and match so many of our stamps together to create unique custom cards! I hope this gave you some ideas today!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed this card!

June Reveals - Day 3 - Wine a Little and Coffee & Wine Stamp Sets

Today is the third reveal day for our June Release! Today we are sharing two fun new wine themed stamp sets,  Wine A Little Stamp Set and Coffee & Wine Stamp Set! We are giving the each of these sets away too so make sure you read all the way to the bottom of this post to see how to win!

Wine a Little

Pour a glass of wine and share it with a friend with this 4x6 stamp set! Wine lovers will adore cards created with these images! The wine glasses and bottles pair perfectly with the sentiments to create wine themed greetings. Whether you want to create a birthday or friendship card, there is something for every taste!

Here's some info on the Wine a Little stamp set:

• 4 x 6 photopolymer stamp set 
• 15 stamps: 8 images and 7 sentiments
• Coordinating Wine a Little purr-fect die set (sold separately) includes 6 dies  
• Available for purchase in our online shop starting Friday, June 22nd

Coffee & Wine

This little 3x4 stamp set is perfect for wine and coffee lovers! This set includes one fun sentiment and small coffee and wine themed images that pair perfectly together! Try using the sentiment for the focal point of your card and creating backgrounds with the smaller images!

Here's some info on the Coffee & Wine stamp set:

• 3 x 4 photopolymer stamp set 
• 7 stamps: 6 images and 1 sentiment
• Coordinating Wine a Little purr-fect die set (sold separately) includes 6 dies  
• Available for purchase in our online shop starting Friday, June 22nd

Enjoy a glass or wine and check out these projects by our Design Team!

Check out all the awesome projects below from our Design Team below! Then, make sure to click through to all their blogs for details on their cards - you will find a few extra cards on some of the DT blogs and you might even find a fun video or two along the way! Make sure to comment on all the blogs for a chance to win! Details on the giveaway are at the bottom of today's post.

Uncork and Unwind! This vibrant card by Samantha features the wine images from the new Wine A Little Stamp Set. I love how she created a puddle of purple watercolor underneath the images and a teal pop of watercolor across the top! 

Tatiana created a fabulous watercolored card using the new little Coffee & Wine Stamp Set. She used all the smaller images in the set to create a fun background pattern and loosely watercolored over them. Then she used the big sentiment embossed in white on a black circle in the center! So stunning! 

Larissa created this wonderful tabletop scene using the wine glasses, bottles, corkscrew and corks from the new Wine A Little Stamp Set. She also added in the grapes and smaller wine bottle from the Coffee & Wine Stamp Set, fussy cutting out the images. For the background she created a subtle striped wallpaper using the serene Stripes Stencil. 

This fun interactive card was created by Naki. She used the bottle and cord from the new WWine A Little Stamp Set and created a slider above the bottle so you can "uncork" it. So fun! She also added in some grapes from the Coffee & Wine Stamp Set and a fun striped background using the Serene Stripes Stencil. The fun postage edged border was cut out using the Framework Die Set.

This elegant wine themed card was created by Maria. She used the big sentiment from the Coffee & Wine Stamp Set in the center, accenting it with square frames and then filled the background the smaller images from the set. The vibrant colors really makes those little images pop! 

This gorgeous wine themed card was created by Juliana. She stamped the images from the Wine A Little Stamp Set and cut them out with their coordinating die set to layer them onto a black tag. The tag was cut out using our Fancy Edges Tag Die Set. She also used our Bubbly Stencil to create a fun bubble background panel. 

This wine card by Holly is so stunning! She stamped the wine images from the Wine A Little Stamp Set and colored them in shades of grey for her background. The one vibrant bottle and glass of wine really pop over that grey background. 

The colors on this card by Amanda are so gorgeous and vibrant! She used the big sentiment from our little Coffee & Wine Stamp Set and surrounded it by the smaller images in the set. What a fun way to create a simple, yet stunning layout! 

This celebratory tag by Ellen would be perfect to add onto a gifted bottle of wine! She created the tag using our Fancy Edges Tag Die Set (making the tag longer), and added a fun bubbly background using our Bubbly Stencil. Then she layered the wine images over the top from the new Wine A Little Stamp Set. She also added the "cheers" die cut from the Cocktail Mixer Die Set. So fun and festive!

This sweet and simple card by Jennifer lets the sentiment steal the show. She stamped the sentiment from the Coffee & Wine Stamp Set over lovely striped background that was created using the new Serene Stripes Stencil. Then she added on the little cup of coffee and bottle of wine to pair perfectly with the sentiment! So simple and fun!

Would you like to win the “Wine a Little”  or the "Coffee & Wine" Stamp Set?

Each of these sets will be given away to ONE lucky winner!

Here's how to win: Comment on the NND blog and Design Team blogs (see list below)! The winner will be chosen at random from the collective reveal posts. Make sure to check out each of their blogs and comment for your chance to win. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning! You have until Thursday June 21st at 9pm EST to comment  -- winners will be announced on the blog post on Friday, June 22nd. 

Check out all the awesome Design Team Blogs below to enter:

Newton's Nook Designs

Amanda Bodine

Holly Endress

Ellen Haxelmans

Larissa Heskett

Samantha Mann

Juliana Michaels

Naki Rager

Maria Russell

Jennifer Timko

Tatiana Trafimovich