Pinkfresh Studio December 2021 Stamp, Die, Stencil, and Hot Foil Release

 

Hello and welcome to the Pinkfresh December new release! There's a fun mix of florals, unique images, thoughtful sentiments, essential dies, and new bling!

You may have come from the lovely Keia, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with the Pinkfresh Blog. 

Let's start with the florals, thoughtful sentiments and essential dies ...

 

This adorable mini slim features a panel cut with Blanket Stitch Slimline and Mini Slimline Rectangle Dies to give it that wonderful texture around the entire edge.

The florals are from the Citrus Bloom Stamp family of products (die and stencils are also offered, thank goodness). The other day I was looking thru my cards and realized I like to stick with lighter colors, so I mentally made a note to push myself to use some of the neglected darker colors now and then. The dark Stargazer navy/purple surprisingly turned out to be a perfect grounding element for the stem and base of the flowers. 

The nice thing about the Citrus Bloom Stamp is that it features citrus fruit in addition to the flowers, which allows you to introduce different color palettes like the yellow/green for the lemons and limes.  

If you're looking for a good set of unique and meaningful sentiments, I think you're going to like the Always Uplifting stamp set. Aside from artfully arranging the text and font, the content of the phrases is quite engaging. 

One tip in using these and other sentiments with a mix of typeface and script font is to stamp the fonts in different colors. In this case, the typeface font is stamped in black, and the script is embossed in gold. I don't cut the stamp apart to do this, just carefully ink up each section.

Here's a unique focal point image, a house (from the Built on Dreams Stamp)! The outline is simply rendered, but the inside of the house is filled with beautifully scrolling flowers and vines. And thanks to the Built on Dreams Layering Stencil they are easy to color! 

I added some hand-cut clouds that I used as a mask and stenciled over, and then included another set of sentiments from Always Uplifting on the top and bottom of the card. Love how easy they are to integrate with your existing sentiments, like this "thank you."

Did you notice the new bling on both cards? That would be the Metallic Pearls: Sparkling Champagne! They have a darker base than the gold, and give off several different colors in the reflections. It's good to step outside my gold comfort zone now and then!

GIVEAWAYS:

We will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel!! We will also be giving away a total of TEN $25  gift cards, so comment along the hop for more chances to win. The winners will be posted on December 21, 2021 on the GIVEAWAY PAGE, so check back and claim any prize within 2 weeks. GOOD LUCK!!

 

I'm now pleased to send you to none other than Laura Bassen where you'll be wowed with beautiful projects! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

Supplies Used (affiliate links, thanks so much for your support!)

Citrus Bloom Stamp

Citrus Bloom Die

Citrus Bloom Layering Stencils

Always Uplifting stamp set

Built on Dreams Stamp

Built on Dreams Die

Built on Dreams Layering Stencil

Blanket Stitch Slimline and Mini Slimline Rectangle Dies

Metallic Pearls: Sparkling Champagne

Pinkfresh Studio November 2021 Essentials Release

Hello Friends! I'm always super excited to ink up a gorgeous new floral set from Pinkfresh Studio, but no flowers this release ... just a crazy amount of essentials that you'll want to use on every single card you make!

You may have come from Keia's delightful blog, but if not feel free to join at the beginning with Pinkfresh Studio.

Essentials: Folk Edge Squares Die Set

My projects today feature mostly the Folk Edge Squares Die Set. This set comes with three sizes of folk edge squares, and three proportionally smaller sizes of straight edge squares (for cutting frames, or layering panels on top).

What's special about the fancy Folk Edge? Not only does it look adorable, but it has stitches and holes ... that you can USE! Let's take a look!

Wouldn't you know, the smallest Folk Edge square is the PERFECT size to fill a slimline card when you line three of them up? I was so excited to find that out.

This type of layout is perfect if you're a little intimidated about filling up the bigger slimline format. I just stamped/cut/colored the Lush Peonies Stamp Set, and used the proportionally smaller square die to cut three different sections from that one Lush Peonie. Then adhered each of the three peonie squares to a Folk Edge square. Super easy!

Let's take a moment to admire those edges!! Yes, yes, yes! They add so much to your project without being distracting in the least. Here's what I was getting at with using the holes in the Folk Edge ... I used some gold thread to "sew" each panel together. It's not functionally necessary, of course, since they're adhered to the card, but I love the look of something just a bit different.

You might have also noticed the Metallic Pearls Matte Gold that I added to the centers of some of the peonies. I'm definitely more of a matte vs. full-on shiny person, so these really speak to me. They come in silver and bronze as well. I can see turning to these often when I want to add something, but can't figure out what ROYGBIV color to use.

I initially made four of the small squares since I was able to get that many cuts from the peonies, but since I just used 3 squares on the previous card, I had one peonie square left over. It was too cute to leave in the leftovers bin though. Since I still had the sewing idea in my head, I decided to sew another square behind it ... 

... and turn it into the cutest mini card! Eeep! I chose a contrasting color for the inside square, and added two little hearts from the Essentials: Shaker Heart Die Set.

Of course I had to make tiny envelope for this cutie. Sometimes small can make a big impact.

There's a blanket stitch along the spine of the card with some thin ribbon. Between the ribbon, and the popped up peonies, and the popped up sentiment, AND the Folk Edge, this little number has a lot of things going for it!

 
If you know me, you know sometimes I just like to keep going with a concept : )

So the last project I sewed a bunch of squares together. These use papers and embellishments from the Holiday Magic line of products (6x6 paper pad, epoxy dots, and all manner of ephemera).

But why would I sew squares together like a tetris puzzle piece?!

 

To make a Christmas block, of course! I sewed the four sides together, and then a top and a bottom, all collapsible for mailing and storage.

Here's what the other side looks like.

On the lid I sewed a loose bead and button so there's something for you to grab onto when opening, and also to keep the paper down nice and straight (although with the super heavy quality of the Pinkfresh cardstock, you don't really have to worry about this).

The bits of ephemera are popped up on foam tape. 

So, now what do we do with this Cube of Christmas Cheer? Well, if you'd like to actually use it as a box for putting something special inside you can certainly sew the base all around to each edge. I'm keeping mine just sewn on one side so I can flatten it later, so my box will be more decorative than functional. Actually, I should have taken a photo of the box opened. Since these papers are double sided, it's neat to see the inside of the box as well!

I do have one  more project with the Essentials: Folk Edge Squares Die Set, so stop back tomorrow on my Instagram where we're doing one more hop with another set of inspo and prizes!

GIVEAWAYS:

We will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel!! What a prize for someone, can you imagine?!!

-We will also be giving away a total of TEN $25  gift cards, so comment along the hop for more chances to win. The winners will be posted on November 30, 2021 on the GIVEAWAY PAGE, so check back and claim any prize within 2 weeks. GOOD LUCK!!

I'm now pleased to send you to none other than Laura Bassen for some pretty darn amazing inspiration!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Kelly

Supplies Used (Affiliate links, thanks so much for your support!)

Lush Peonies Stamp Set

 

Essentials: Folk Edge Squares Die Set

Essentials: Shaker Heart Die Set

Metallic Pearls Matte Gold

New Anita Jeram Christmas Release!

Hello Friends! Hard to believe it's time for another Anita Jeram Christmas release, seems like just a bit ago we were debuting last year's charming Christmas collection. This one, like last year's, has several adorable illustrations of woodland creatures caught spreading holiday joy. And many unique sentiments as well. 

You may have come from the blog of Amy Young where you were just wowed with her amazing creations, but if not feel free to start at the beginning with Colorado Craft Company.

The bunny from Hiding Presents thinks he's being clever hiding presents, but what happens when he forgets what he bought, or where he put it?! Well, thankfully, he's got a little mouse in the lower right to chat with and keeping an eye on things

I cut extra dies of the little mouse and adhered them together so I can solidly pop him up. This also helps draw attention to him, and to what he's saying.

Such a cute scene! In addition, I appreciate that these sets often have sentiments with coordinating dies. Does anyone else have anxiety about stamping a sentiment directly to the card base after it's all finished? This way you don't have to! I love diecutting the sentiment, and then moving it around until I figure out what looks best.

Santa Bunny is trying to quietly sneak around doing his thing, but wouldn't you know, one of the baby bunnies appears to have spotted him! Will he listen to Santa and keep quiet so he doesn't wake everyone else up?

If he wants to stay on the Nice List, yes, the baby bunny will definitely stay quiet! Like the little mouse from the last card, I popped Santa Bunny up on a few layers of cardstock to make it seem like he's in the foreground, and the baby bunnies are back a bit.

On this card I combined three of the sentiments from the set, but even still there are other sentiments included. I really like having lots to read on a card, and think it's nice to not always just say "Merry Christmsas."
 

Getting Ready is so adorable, the little bunny getting ready for Christmas by hanging his stocking outside. With the stocking being as big as he is, I bet he's expecting a lot of presents. Good thing he's "on the nice list!"

I went for texture and used white felt on the bottom for snow. To get the snow only below the die cut line, I die cut the actual felt, and then trimmed the bottom edges.

Another nice thing about the felt is that the thickness pops your die cut nice and high off the card base. I have foam tape to support the upper portion of the scene. Finally, I flicked some paint on the blended blue panel for a snowy day.

GIVEAWAY: 
I'm happy to announce I'm able to give away one Hanging Stockings Mini stamp set! Please head over to my Instagram account to enter. It's super easy, just comment on my post, and follow my account and Colorado Craft Company. The giveaway ends on the 23rd at midnight mountain time. Winners will be announced on the Colorado Craft Company blog on the 25th of November. Good Luck!

It's time to send you on your way to see my friend Caly Person, who has amazing things to share with you!

Thanks for stopping by!
- Kelly

Supplies Used (affiliate links, thanks for shopping!)

Getting Ready

Hiding Presents

Santa Bunny