October 2011 Release Day 2

Welcome back to Day 2 of our October 2011 Release. Thank you for all of the wonderful comments yesterday, I am so excited over the enthusiasm for this release. If you missed Day 1, be sure to catch up here to see what I'm talking about. There is still a little time to enter to win our first 2 sets from this release.

Today, we are taking a look at another wonderful holiday classic, Christmas Wishes.

Christmas Wishes

• is a 4x6 clear photopolymer stamp set
• contains 14 stamps; 1 large frame, 5 accent images, and 8 sentiment builders
• will be available for purchase October 5th for just $13

I had so much fun creating with this set. I was able to mix and match it with a few of our previous sets to create a ton of different projects. Let's start with a warm homespun card.

Sigh...I just love this card. Want to hear a secret? I accidentally sewed it closed! Yep...I sure did. Oops. So I've decided to display it in a shadow box instead (at least until my mom steals it, that is). I started this card by stamping the friend definition background strip from Defining Words in Versamark onto white cardstock.

I stamped it unevenly around the edges, leaving the middle open and dusted it randomly with gold Perfect Pearls before inking the edges.

This made a great background to stamp the beautifully flourished vintage frame from today's set onto. This frame has the perfect classic and vintage feel to it. It reminds me of those old wrought iron signs that hung from posts.

This set comes with a ton of images and sentiments to mix and match together to fill the frame with. Here, I add the holly image and the "Holly Jolly" main sentiment, then added the "Christmas" sentiment in the little nook at the bottom of the frame.

I add some paper from Nordic Holiday (Basic Grey), wrapped the panel with twine and then tucked some lace underneath before stitching to the card base (and forever sealing the card!). Notice the little postage stamps? More on how I created those a little further down.

Next up, another one layer mail-friendly card. This one is gender neutral with a little more vibrant color scheme featuring more of that great Nordic Holiday paper from Basic Grey. Can you tell I like it.a.lot?

This one is super fast. I started by stamping the frame in blue onto white cardstock and adding my image and main sentiment.

I then added the rest of my sentiment. I wanted to show you a close up of the "Wishing You A" stamp.

I have included this onto one stamp, leaving the perfect spacing to line it up on either side of the circle. Now it will be perfectly lined up every time. And, there is plenty of room between them to ink them separately if you wish.

Ready to change gears, and go a little softer? I loved the color combination of the green, wine and pink so much...that I just had to revisit it.

This one reminds me of a patchwork quilt and it was so easy! Want to see how? I started by using the Martha Stewart Postage punch to punch some little stamps from white cardstock. I used our Postmarked set to add some faux postage and postage marks.

The images in Christmas Wishes can be used without the frame are perfect for adding accent images for that finishing touch. I added the small sentiments "Christmas" "Wishes" to the last postage stamp.

I punched more stamps from some patterned paper in coordinating colors and inked all of the edges before adhering to a Kraft panel. I decided to finish the inside of the card with my all time favorite sentiment from the Classic Christmas set and topped it with another image from Christmas Wishes.

Before stitching the kraft panel down, I used the single dotted journaling line from Pile It On to add the grid. I adhered the whole thing to the front of rustic white cardstock using foam tape so that I could hide the hole where I attached the seam binding. This little card is 4x4 making it a perfect size to add to a gift bag or even to tie around the neck of a bottle of wine or champagne.

I have one more project to share with you today. This one is very traditional both in color, and in feel. I used yet more of the Nordic Holiday paper to create a matching tag and card.

For the card, I stamped the "Happy Holidays" sentiment from Christmas Wishes onto a cream strip of cardstock and flanked it with an accent image also from Christmas Wishes. I used foam tape to adhere this over a Label Layers 3 die cut stamped with a frame image from Very Vintage Greetings. I adhered that to a strip of cardstock which I cut a decorative edge using a Spellbinders die.

For the inside, I used the same sentiment as above and added some holly from Christmas Wishes on opposite corners.

The tag was simple as well. I used the same technique I used in the first card to prepare the tag base. I added some odds and ends, and finished it by splitting the "Merry Christmas" sentiment from Christmas Wishes between two tags from the Le Cirque stamp set.

Whew! Can you believe how versatile this set is? I really hope you've enjoyed today's set so far. But don't worry, there is still more from the talented Design Team:

• Elise Durenberger
• Cristina Kowalczyk
• Jinny Newlin - hosting a challenge!
• Kerrianne Gwin - hosting a challenge!
• Lea Lawson - hosting a challenge!
• Savitri Wilder
• Jean Martin

Would you like to win Christmas Wishes? Just leave a comment by 9:00 AM EST October 3rd to enter. Do you like to see lots of projects with lots of pictures during release week, or do you prefer just a couple with fewer pictures? I will select one random winner from all comments. Winners will be posted here.

Don't forget, the fun continues tomorrow with another set, hope you will join us again!