December/January 2013 Release Week Day 2

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

Today we have more to introduce, including 2 new stamp sets and 2 new dies. These are some of my favorite from the release and I am so excited to introduce:

Cupid's Arrow

• is a 4x6" clear photopolymer stamp set
• contains 15 stamps; 6 sentiment stamps and 9 images
• will be available for purchase December 5th for $14

Cupid's Arrow Companion Dies

• coordinates with the Cupid's Arrow stamp set
• four separate dies wired together that can be easily snipped and separated
• will be available for purchase December 5th for $6

Banner Love

• is a 3x4" clear photopolymer stamp set
• contains8 stamps; 4 pre-strung banner images, 3 individual pennant/bunting images and 1 stitched heart
• will be available for purchase December 5th for $6

Clear Cut Stackers: Hearts Dies

• nested dies with an open center backed with a clear panel
• cuts 4 graduated hearts in the following sizes: 3 1/4", 2 1/2", 1 3/4", and 1".
• will be available for purchase December 5th for $15

My first card today is ultra feminine and frilly. I think I managed to use a little bit of everything from this release on it.

I started by stitching some Bella Blvd patterned paper to a Kraft card base. For the focal point, I cut one of the CCS: Rounded Rectangles from Oatmeal card stock and stamped the corners with a flourish from Damask Delight (more on that tomorrow) and added some buttons and the smallest heart from the Clear Cut Stackers: Hearts die.

That adorable cupid is from Cupid's Arrow. I die cut and stamped him and then covered him with glitter. I added a little tag using Timeless Tags to the bow and stamped a heart from Banner Love. The little banners on the left side were stamped with Defining Words and then die cut using the Banner Trio Die.

The XOXO Border Die was perfect for bringing a little bit of pink up to the top of the card. I needed to bring a little red over to the right side, so I added another banner and stamped "True Love" from Cupid's Arrow in red.

I decided to keep rolling with the same basic layout, but switch up the elements for the next card. A little help from Webster's Pages patterned paper and I came up with this.

An envelope stuffed with love letters! I filled our Vintage Envelope Die with a few letters cut with our Love Notes die. The little cupid pulling the letter out is also from Cupid's Arrow. There are two facing each other so you can have them hold banners, pennants and anything you can imagine.

The center of the envelope is decorated with some trim, a few buttons and a glittered heart. Another cupid, a cluster of flowers and a sentiment tag finish this one off.

Those little guys are so much fun to use. I'm telling you, I could put them on everything! There are several sizes included in the set and they are facing left and right.

There are also quite a few great graphic sentiments and accent elements included in Cupid's Arrow. Here, I used the arrow and target to stamp out my background pattern in White pigment ink onto Cupid's Bow card stock.

The pattern is so bold that all I needed to do was stamp my sentiment onto a banner and call it done!

Keeping it clean and simple, I decided to go with a little black on black embossing.

The background was stamped and embossed using Background Builders: Hearts. The sentiment was also embossed, but in white this time onto a Label Layers 3 die cut from Cupid's Bow card stock. All little more of that XOXO Border Die under the label is perfect for anchoring it on the black.

For my last card, since I already had all of the embossing stuff out, I decided to try out some of the colored embossing onto Black card stock. I used the individual banner images from Banner Love along with the string from Heartfelt Mix to create some vibrant bunting. The sentiment is a little peek at another set we will be introducing tomorrow.

I am seriously having so much fun with these sets, and I've only scratched the surface! I love how they can go either way and fit any style. I hope you have enjoyed the previews today. I will be back with the final introductions tomorrow, but the Design Team has so much to share today too! They are amazing!

• Cristina Kowalczyk
• Elise Durenberger
• Jean Martin
• Jinny Newlin
• Kerrianne Gwin
• Lea Lawson
• Sarah Martina Parker
• Savitri Wilder

So, would you like to win today's featured products: Cupid's Arrow, Cupid's Arrow Companion Die, Banner Love and the Clear Cut Stackers: Hearts dies? Just leave me a comment by 9:00 AM EST December 3rd to enter. I will select one random winner from all comments. Winners will be posted here.

Thanks for stopping by, I'll be back tomorrow!