January Release Stampede

Our January release is locked, loaded, and ready to go!

They are available for purchase in our store now!

To celebrate the release, we are doing our monthly stampede through our Design Team blogs as well as our majorly talented heavy hittin' guest designers Betsy Veldman, Lea Lawson and challenge winner Leigh Penner! Scroll on down for the complete list!

We are giving away 3 gift certificates to our store worth $20.00 each. To be eligible to win, leave a comment here and throughout the Stampede by Saturday, January 19 11:59PM. Winners will be chosen at random and announced on Monday, January 21st.

(Cosmic Stars)

(Smitten)

(Starry Night)

(Type It)

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Here is my project. I used stamps from Smitten to create this white-lovin' layout of my sweet girl.

Closer look, because white is not easy to photograph. At all. :(

Ready to stampede?

Alice Wertz

Cheiron Brandon 

Leigh Penner

JJ Bolton 

Mariana Grigsby 

Lea Lawson

Pearl Lui 

Savannah O'Gwynn

Betsy Veldman

Please find us and like us on Facebook HERE. I think I'm feeling a giveaway there too. :)

First Look: Starry Night

Welcome back to the last day of our First Looks for January. All new stamps will be available for purchase by 9:00 AM EST tomorrow morning in our store. We also have our monthly Stampede with our Design Team to kick off the release, so make sure you join in the festivity. There will be plenty of inspiration and giveaways!

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I had the idea of creating cool constellation patterns, if cute characters isn't your thing. With Starry Night, you can create your own astrology signs by piecing the lines together. A quick Google search  will yield many examples. I think it's super cool! Starry Night is chocked full of sentiments. You'll find all 12 astrology signs in a unique font as well as many complementing sentiments.

(photo credit)

• Starry Night will be available for purchase on January 15th.
• Starry Night in a 4x6 clear acetate sheet and will retail for $15.00.
• Starry Night contains a total of 32 stamps: 27 sentiments and 5 images. The constellation dashed stamps measures 1-1/16", 7/8", 5/8", and 7/16"; "Libra" measures 3/4".

I decided to go the feminine route with today's card. I love, love, love doilies. I would seriously use it in every card and layout I make, but I'm sure someone out there will think I'm nutty if I do! Maybe I'll just sneak it in once every couple of weeks and no one will notice my obsession with them. 

I'm not much of a layering, fussy kind of designer, but when I do I still tend to keep it very clean and simple. I think it's important for the images to be the focus and everything else should play the supporting role.

I stamped the stripe background with Basic Borders with Versamark ink. Tone on tone stamping always look incredible! I looked up the constellation pattern for Aquarius and stamped it with navy ink. After the stamping was complete, I colored the stars with a light glitter pen.

The Sakura Gelly Roll pen is the best for light sparkly touch ups. My glitter pen was one of my first crafty purchases and one of the few I haven't ever regretted buying (how many border scissors did you buy?!) and they're still going strong!

I hauled out my sewing machine and sewed a little border to the side.  A veneer star finished the card off. I generally don't like to leave my cards "naked" when I tie strings or ribbon around it, it just seems messy to me. The solution is to do a little layer so you don't have anything hanging loose behind the card.

So, what do you think of Starry Night? It's a sophisticated balance to the adorable images in Cosmic Stars!

First Look: Cosmic Stars

What's your sign?

I am so excited for today's First Look! It is none other than Cosmic Stars. Now you can create more personalized designs based on the recipient's astrology sign! Angie is such an amazing graphic and animation artist. She is the creative genius behind the cuties in Polar Pals, Nursery Deco, and No Peeking. Cosmic Stars is the first set in which we have critters and people!

(photo credit)

Cosmic Stars will be available for purchase on January 15th.

Cosmic Stars comes in a 4x6 clear acetate sheet and will retail for $15.00.

Cosmic Stars contains a total of 14 stamps -- all images. The stamp set is labeled with the astrology signs text, they are printed for reference only. Text stamps are not included. The girl with bow and arrow (Sagittarius) measures 1" in height. 

I am going to be a little stingy here and only show you the same Sagittarius girl we previewed, lol! But, twice! I picked up the same image from Cosmic Stars and the same sentiment from On Target to create two cards.

My first card uses the target stamp from On Target. I also used the dot border from Basic Borders to create the side panels. Little Miss Sagittarius was colored with Copic markers. I colored in some stars with my Sakura glitter pen.

My second card uses the same stamps. I used a triangle border stamp from Trifecta to create the bottom base/grass (an idea borrowed from Wida Miller, see her card HERE).

I swiped Distress ink in Tumbled Glass to create the sky. Then I inked up the star border pattern from Starry Night (also being released this month) in a silvery ink. The sentiment was stamped last. 

I think the sentiment and image worked so well together in both cards! *Happy squeal.* :)

Be back tomorrow with the last First look of January and I've got a project I am particularly excited about! See ya!

First Look: Smitten

It's Saturday! I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend, I'm probably off at Target chasing my kids down the aisles. Fun. But, gosh, I love them so much -- if only they weren't so crazy!

So, today we're taking a first look at Smitten, an oh-so-playful and graphic sentiment set. We try to design our stamps so that they are useable year round and for varied occasions and recipients. Although it's a focus on love and Valentine's Day, you'll see that Smitten would be great for friends as well. It will also work really well for scrapbook layouts. I'll bet that you'll be smitten with Smitten once you see it! ;)

(photo credit)

• Smitten will be available for purchase on January 15th.
• Smitten comes in a 4x6 clear acetate sheet and will retail for $15.00.
• Smitten contains a total of 12 stamps: 10 sentiment stamps and 2 images. The circle stamp measures 1-7/16" and works perfectly with a 1-1/2" circle punch; the feather measures 11/16" x 1-7/8"; the All You Need is Love Love Love stamp measures 13/16" x 2-3/8"; the small circle stamp measures just under 3/4".

I'm having a gold rush lately. I snap up any and all crafty products that are gold. Here's my card featuring the feather stamp you'll find in Smitten. Isn't she pretty?!

I've been using ink from Fresh Ink almost exclusively, with the exception of the colors black and white. I find that Fresh Inks work really well with not just our stamps, but all clear stamps. They give a nice even coverage without being splotchy. 
So, you like what you see?  I've got another First Look tomorrow. See ya!

First Look: Type It

Today I am pleased to introduce our first stamp set in our January line up called Type It. Type It was inspired by my own love affair for vintage typewriters and vintage ledgers. I just love that kind of stuff.

Here's a picture of my Remington typewriter which I purchased 2 years ago. It was in pristine condition and oh-so-beautiful. 

(Photo credit: Me :)

• Type It will be available for purchase on January 15th.
• Type It comes in a 4x6 clear acetate sheet and will retail for $15.00.
• Type It contains a total of 18 stamps: 11 images and 7 sentiments. The typewriter measures: 2-3/8" x 1-5/8"; the ledger measures 2-5/8" x 3-5/8"; the round keys measures just under 0.5".

My card today features the typewriter and the ledger image that's also included in Type It. (One thing to note, the ledger stamp is a nice fit for all you Project Lifers. I attempted to do PL in 2010, I lasted about 9 days, haha.)

Very straightforward. The typewriter was cut out and propped up with 3d foam. I like giving my cards that added dimension.  I colored in some areas of the typewriter with a light blue Copic marker. 

That's all from me today, be back tomorrow with another First Look! :)