October/November Release Week Day 2

Welcome back! It's Day 2 of our October/November release. If you are just joining us, you can start at Day 1 to catch up.

Wow! Did the Design Team turn it out yesterday or what?! If you haven't checked out their projects yet, trust me...you want to!

Today we have more to introduce, including 1 new stamp set, 2 new dies and a new card stock color. So let's get to it, shall we.

Iconic Christmas

• is a 6x8 clear photopolymer stamp set
• 20 high quality photo-polymer stamps; 13 scene building images and 7 sentiments
• will be available for purchase October 5th for $21

Iconic Christmas Companion Dies

• 6 individual dies wired together that can be easily separated
• coordinates with the Iconic Christmas stamp set
• will be available for purchase October 5th for $16

Simple Snowflake Die

• measures 3" in diameter
• will be available for purchase October 5th for $9

Today, we are jumping in the "way back machine" and going for a nostalgic holiday. Iconic Christmas is a true classic, filled to the brim with generously sized iconic Christmas images. It's just effortlessly elegant. My first two cards show off two of the main images along with their coordinating sentiments. Let's start with the Christmas carolers.

Here, I've stamped and die cut the pair of carolers and placed them under a lamp post. The trees in the background are also from Iconic Christmas. I've included three sizes of trees to accommodate a variety of applications.

The lamp post was decorated with the wreath also included in this set. Because you can't have a naked lamp post during the holidays, right?! I just added my sentiment and matted it with Cupid's Bow card stock to finish it off.

My next card uses the same layout, but this time I swapped the main images for the little girl and large Christmas tree.

I stamped and die cut the large tree and added it directly to the card base along with the sentiment. I then die cut and stamped the little girl and adhered her with foam dimensionals. For a little bit of interest, I added some snow flurries also included in the set across the background. I matted this one with Black card stock, which we will also be adding to the store this month.

I enjoyed the addition of black in the last card so much, that I decided to roll with it and do it again. And once I got started, I couldn't stop. I created a little card and ornament/tag ensemble.

This just might be my new favorite Christmas color combo. I know it's unconventional, but it just makes me smile. I started the card by stamping the large tree a couple of times across the bottom in Antique Linen Distress Ink. I then embossed a few snowflakes from Folk Art Flurries in white and inked around the edges in Antique Linen to bring out the detail.

The sentiment from Iconic Christmas was added in black and balanced on the left by a little lace, buttons and snowflakes die cut from the Seasonal Sentiments Die.

This little trio of tags would also make great keepsake ornaments. Add your To: and From: to the back along with the year, and the recipient could hang them on their tree.

To create the large square ornament, I used the 2.5" Clear Cut Stackers: Pinking Squares to cut a our Wafer Board and Black card stock. I adhered them together and then layered a 2.25" square of patterned paper on top.

For the center I die cut a snowflake using the Simple Snowflake Die and covered it with glitter. This snowflake is the optimal size at 3" in diameter. So versatile.

For the snowflake ornaments, I did the same. Cut one snowflake from Wafer Board and another from patterned paper using the Simple Snowflake die and adhered them together. Using Oatmeal card stock, I punched a 1.25" circle and stamped the sentiments from Iconic Christmas in the center using black Archival Ink and added the flourish also included in the set in Antique Linen Distress Ink. To finish, I covered the entire circle with glitter, added some May Arts twine to the back and adhered it to the snowflake.

I just love the way they all look together.

My last card for today, uses the image that started this set. It wasn't until after I finished illustrating this guy that I knew where this set was going.

Creating this one was actually very easy with the help of the Quilt Cuts 2 Die, which I will formally introduce tomorrow. To start, I used on of the quilt blocks to cut a square out of Kraft card stock. I cut another block from Oatmeal card stock, but instead of using the squares, I used the remaining frame for my window panes.

To create the window frame, I cut my "boards" and "mitered" my corners. I then embossed them with the woodgrain pattern from Woodgrain Silhouettes. To keep from burning my fingers with the heat tool, I temporarily adhered them to a card stock handle for embossing.

On the inside, I added the large tree from Iconic Christmas and decorated it with berries and a few twinkles of light with a white gel pen. I die cut and stamped Santa going over his list and added my sentiment using a Timeless Tags die cut secured with a bow.

And that concludes my samples and sneak peeks for the today. But I know that the rest of the Design Team has been having fun with these as well and would love to show you what they've been up to:

• Elise Durenberger
• Cristina Kowalczyk
• Jinny Newlin
• Kerrianne Gwin
• Lea Lawson
• Savitri Wilder
• Jean Martin
• And our Guest Designer Anya Schrier

Thank you for the warm response to yesterday's previews. I hope we were able to keep the momentum going and that you enjoyed today's as well! Would you like to win today's featured products: Iconic Christmas, Iconic Christmas Companion Die, and the Simple Snowflake Die? Just leave me a comment by 9:00 AM EST October 3rd telling me what your favorite Christmas decor is to enter. Rustic? Homespun? Victorian? Elegant? I will select one random winner from all comments. Winners will be posted here.