January New Release Previews

January Sets - Preview Day!

Today I'm so excited to post a preview of our releases this month! We will be adding two sweet love-themed sets to our collection!  Starting tomorrow we're going to showcase these four sets with our whole design team and then both sets will be available for sale on Friday, January 17th!

1. Love à la Carte

Make some yummy cards with this 4 x 6 stamp set!  Filled with yummy and sweet food icons this set is sure to please! Find your favorite term of endearment -- honey, cupcake, sugar -- and make a card for all the sweet ones in your life!  Great for Valentines, Love, anniversary, friendship and baby cards! Here's a preview card showcasing one of the stamps from this set! Check back tomorrow to see the reveal of the whole stamp set and projects made by our Design Team! 

Here's some info on Love à la Carte:

• 4 x 6 photopolymer stamp set
• Includes 21 stamps: 9 images and 11 sentiments and 1 border
• Available for purchase in our store starting Friday, January 17th

2. Sweetheart Tails

This 4 x 6 stamp set is all about love! These little woodland critters will steal your heart—and the hearts of those you send them too! These animals have such cute little puns and are perfect for making Valentines, love, friendship and anniversary cards! We will be showcasing this set with a full reveal and the whole Design Team on Thursday so stay tuned...

Here's some info on Sweetheart Tails:

• 4 x 6 photopolymer stamp set
• Includes 15 stamps: 9 images and 5 sentiments and 1 border
• Available for purchase in our store starting Friday, January 17th

What do you think? 

Are you ready to make some sweet cards? Come back tomorrow for the first full reveal and a chance to win! 

Sneak Peeks!

Are you ready for a peek at some new stamps? 

Yay! Today I'm sharing sneak peeks of our TWO new sets for January. 

This week we will be featuring previews of these two new sets - starting tomorrow, then Wednesday and Thursday for the full reveal and AMAZING cards made by our new Design Team! Then both sets will be for sale in the online shop on Friday, January 17th! It's going to be such a fun week! 

Snowman Card & a Peek into my Sketchbook!

Sweet Snowman Couple

Today I'm sharing a super simple snow-couple card I created using our Frozen Friends stamp set. This card was really simple to create. I just stamped the image of the two snowmen on the Kraft cardstock and colored them in with some colored pencils. Then I added some snowflakes with kraft-colored ink and the "baby it's cold outside sentiment" from the same set in black. I mounted the whole thing on a white background and added a blue ribbon. This would be a great card to make multiples of if you needed a bunch because it was really easy to make!

Behind the scenes of our winter stamp designs...

I thought it might be fun to share with you how I create a stamp set - I get lots of questions - do you really draw those images by hand? So I thought I'd do a little bit of sharing about my creative process!  

Mostly I just start sketching! 
Sometimes that's the hardest part - sometimes it's the easiest - it just depends. I look for inspiration in lots of places - Pinterest, fashion & home magazines, out shopping, museums, real-life experiences! You never know when something might give you an idea. Then I pull out my sketchbook and just start drawing. Sometimes I get it right on the first try - sometimes I have to draw something over and over until I get it just right. For these particular images, it ended up being almost the same as my first sketch.

Here's a couple pages I scanned in from my sketch book -- these ones are in pencil:

And here's another page - I ended up drawing these two with black drawing pens:

As you can see, I turn my sketch book as needed and sketch whichever direction I think the image will fit into! I don't like working large.  My sketchbook is usually small - I think this one was a 6x6. 

Digitize it! 

If I didn't like the first sketch I might draw it a few more times. Sometimes I use tracing paper or go over it with black drawing markers - it really just depends on how I'm feeling about it. Once I have it the way I like it it goes into my flatbed scanner and I have what you see above. Then I import that into Adobe Illustrator and "re-draw" the whole thing. That way I can get the lines perfectly smooth and make sure everything is the proportion I want it. Sometimes I "tweak" or change things a little but they're usually pretty close to the sketch. I also print it out a few times and color it too. Although this sometimes takes a long time - I want to make sure the final images are "perfect" before I have the stamps made! 

And here's what the final Frozen Friends set looks like:

And that snow bear  from the first page ended up not with the snowmen but instead in the Snow Day stamp set with the other animals! Here's how that one turned out:

What do you think? Did you like seeing "behind the scenes"? 

Have a great weekend and make sure to come back next week - Sneak Peeks for our Jan. Release start on Monday! Soooo excited!

Sledding Puppy Card

Wheee!

Here's a fun card I made using the sledding puppy from our Snow Day Stamp set! I stamped him onto watercolor paper and had fun coloring him in teals and greens using distress markers. Doesn't he look like he's have fun sledding? I added him onto this card with some ribbon that I glued down in at "ruffle" and added button to the top. I think this turned out to be a really fun color combo!

Another thing I like about this card is that it could be for any occasion! It's just a cute, fun card you could send out to anyone! 

Cheesy Spinner Card!

Happy Birthday Big Cheese!

He he he... This spinner card using the Just Say Cheese stamp set really makes me laugh! I love how the little mouse spins around the cheese! When I started this card I was thinking I would make the cheese spin around the mouse but it was too big and didn't spin right so I switched it and made the mouse spin aroudn the cheese instead and I love how it turned out. Can't you just see that little mouse scurrying around looking for his cheese? 

If you haven't tried making a spinner card, I posted a tutorial about how to create on on this post: Penny Slider Card Tutorial. This card is very similar to that except that I created the slot from cutting out two circles with the big shot and some nesting circle dies. I also added some fun washi tape and twine to dress up the final card. 

Here's a little video to show you how it spins. It's not the best video but you get the idea!

Snowy Shaker Card

Bunny Snow Day!

Do you have Snow Days where you live? We live in Wisconsin and usually there is at least one "snow day" each year where we get too much snow and are all snowed in. Schools close, Malls close, and if you're lucky -  you get to stay home from work too! You literally can't get anywhere because it takes awhile for the snow plows to clean them up! I LOVE snow days - they are usually an unexpected day to stay in and watch movies or catch up on things at home - or just relax! I'm hoping to get one soon -- but so far it's just been COLD -- which means schools close but all the adults still have to go out! 

I think this bunny in snowshoes from the Snow Day stamp set is one of my favorite stamps right now  —don't tell Newton! — but he's so much fun to color! I colored this bunny with copic markers, giving him bright teal shoes! Then I used him to make a fun little shaker card with some sequins, including a couple of snowflake-shaped ones. I used a teal card stock base and added some teal ribbon to coordinate with the sequin colors. I also added the "Snow Day" sentiment in a green circle to bring in a bit more green.

If you haven't tried to make a shaker card yet, I posted a tutorial a while back on this post: Prehistoric Pals Shaker Card Tutorial - make sure to check it out. They're so fun to make!

Triangle Kitty card by Christine Drogt!

Triangle Newton!

Hello there & happy Monday! I have a treat for you today - a fun card featuring the Newton's Antics stamp set by one of our new Design Team Members, Christine Drogt!  Christine created some colored modeling paste to create the pretty triangle background - I am really loving cards with texture lately! I also love how she cut out that cute grey kitty and added it over some vellum! 

Christine will be back next week with some cards for our new release! Until then, make sure to pop over to her blog, Das Kartenchaos and say hello!