August 2010 Sneak Peek Day 1: Guiding Light

Welcome to the August 2010 Release here at Wplus9 Design Studio. This month Wplus9 is 6 months old, and here at The Studio, we are celebrating with 4 new stamp sets! Not only will I be previewing our newest additions before they are released for sale on Aug. 8th...the entire Wplus9 Design Team will be joining me each day as well! And let me tell you, these ladies know how to work a stamp. It's definitely good stuff.

So let's get this party started shall we. Today, I'm excited to finally share with you "Guiding Light" and "Guiding Light Sentiments". First, I must confess, I have a secret love affair with lighthouses. There is something so serene and just a bit haunting about them. I used the infamous St. Augustine lighthouse as my inspiration when illustrating this set. I absolutely love that city and everything surrounding it, so rich with history (and hauntings).

Guiding Light is packed with images for building the perfect sophisticated, gender neutral, sympathy card. But we didn't stop there, pair the images with the "Guiding Light Sentiments" set for even more options.

Guiding Light

• is a 6x8 clear photopolymer stamp set
• contains 17 stamps; 2 sentiments, and 15 images
• will be available for purchase August 8th for just $19

Guiding Light Sentiments

• is a 4x6 clear photopolymer stamp set
• contains 9 sentiments
• will be available for purchase August 8th for just $10

For my first card, I thought the woodgrain background from Woodgrain Silhouettes would compliment this set perfectly.

I started by stamping the woodgrain background onto Kraft cardstock in Versamark and embossing with clear powder. Using the Spellbinders Labels 1 die, I cut a window in the center. To create my scene, I started by stamping two of the cattail images onto the bottom of a white panel. I stamped off once for some to create an illusion of depth. All around the edges I softly sponged some blue, just enough to create the hint of a sky.

This made the perfect backdrop for me to nestle in the heron image standing tall and graceful on the stump. If you've seen these birds, you know just how majestic and proud they look, so graceful and tall. All that was left was to add the sentiment from "Guiding Light Sentiments".

Lastly, I attached the white panel directly to the back of the Kraft panel and attached that to the front of my card using some foam tape.

Next up is the image that started the whole set. The beautiful lighthouse. The large lighthouse is two separate stamps; the lighthouse itself, and the stripes.

I started by stamping the lighthouse first onto cream cardstock in black ink. Then I added the stripes in deep red. To bring even more life and dimension to the image, I broke out the Copics. I love how that tower just seems to pop right off of the card.

I die cut a panel from cork using another Spellbinders label die and added some of the birds from Practicing Creativity's "Look Up" and one of the sentiments from "Guiding Light Sentiments". When stamping directly onto cork like this, if you are impatient like me, just hit it with the heat gun to speed up drying time.

For my last sample, I used just one simple starfish image from "Guiding Light" and a sentiment from "Guiding Light Sentiments".

Ah, that Thrift Shop paper from October Afternoon looks just perfect with this card. Don't you think?

Want to see more? Check out what the rest of the girls have done with these sets. But don't forget to come back and leave a comment to win!

• Elise
• Hannah
• Heather
• Kerrianne
• Maile
• Savitri

Want to win both sets? So what do you think? How do you feel about lighthouses? Hate em, love em, don't care either way? Leave a comment by 11:59 pm EST August 5th for a chance to win both "Guiding Light" and "Guiding Light Sentiments". Winners will be posted here. Thanks so much for joining us today!