JUNE 2016 RELEASE: Friends for All Seasons: Summer with Maureen

Hi there, it's Maureen here for day two of the WPlus9 June release. Today I'm sharing a card using the adorable new set - Friends For All Seasons: Summer. This is the next installment in the Friends For All Seasons series, illustrated by Stephany Zerbe. And it is so cute!

AVAILABLE JUNE 5, 2016

Friends For All Seasons: Summer
4x6" Clear Stamp Set
$15 USD

FFS: Summer Companion Die
Steel Rule Die
$14 USD

This set is filled with adorable images and sentiments, and although that little dog may be the "star" of this set, I couldn't resist using the kites to make a super CAS card. Notice that the kite has the outline image and a solid image. This made it quick and easy to add some bright pops of color!

I paired the kite from the set with a couple of oldie but goodies. I used Happy Birds to add in some stylized clouds, and a little border action from Borders & Backgrounds 2 compliments the other images perfectly.

Repeatedly stamping accessory images in a stamp set is a great way to stretch your stash. While the kite is meant to be an accent, here it becomes the focal image. And the beautiful rainbow of WPlus9 PURE COLOR ink pops against the black and white.

There are a lot of great products to introduce this week. I can't wait to see what the rest of the team has created!

Giveaway Alert

Would you like to win a $25 store credit to wplus9.com? Just leave a comment below by 9:00 a.m. EST on 06/03/16 to enter and we will select one random winner from all comments. What do you think the next character in the Friends For All Seasons series will be? Winner will be posted on our Winners page by noon on 06/04/16.

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of all of the supplies (or equivalents) used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase. Please note: this list does contain some affiliate links.

WPlus9 Happy Birds	WPlus9 PURE COLOR Sweet Gelato Dye Ink	WPlus9 PURE COLOR Dye Ink - Pumpkin Spice	PURE COLOR Wild Mango Dye Ink	WPlus9 PURE COLOR Last Leaf Dye Ink
WPlus9 PURE COLOR Falling for Blue Dye Ink	WPlus9 PURE COLOR Cockleshell Dye Ink	WPlus9 PURE COLOR Black Dye Ink	Versamark Ink Pad	WPlus9 White Cardstock
WPlus9 Black Cardstock	Ranger White Embossing Powder

InLinkz.com

Throwback Thursday: Borders & Backgrounds 2

Hello! It's Maureen here with a new feature for WPlus9 Design Blog. The third Thursday of each month I will be sharing a set of cards made using the same supplies, the same basic design elements and a "throwback" WPlus9 stamp set. Throwback you ask? I'm bringing back some of the older sets and showing new ways you can use them and/or how you can incorporate them into projects using new products as well.

This month my throwback set is Borders & Backgrounds 2. This is my all time favorite background set, the images are classic, timeless and gender neutral. It's one that I turn to time and time again.

I'm using Borders and Backgrounds 2 with the Pretty Peonies stamp set, the Pretty Peonies Dies as well as Hand Lettered Thanks.

My first card is a classic clean and simple design. I've offset the stark black and white with a pop of color on my flower. Rather than stamping the images, I heat embossed the outline with white embossing powder and then sponged over them with Wild Mango and Flamingo inks on the flower and Mojito and Appletini on the leaves. Borders & Backgrounds 2 was stamped at the bottom of this one layer card which grounds the flower and sentiment nicely.

My next card uses the same basic design elements but I've flipped the orientation of the card and added some more layers. This time I've stamped the images with Distress Inks and brushed over them with water and a paint brush. This technique gives such a pretty watercolored look without a lot of work.

Here I've stepped up the design even more by adding another layer and stamping Borders & Backgrounds 2 over the entire background. This time I've simply stamped the flowers in Wild Mango and Flamingo inks, rather than doing a technique with them.

As you can see, the same basic design elements as well as the embellishments were carried through from the simple one layer card all the way to the stepped up version of the design. It's fun to use the same supplies and design elements and see how many different ways you can use them. Make two of each card and you have a beautiful handmade card set, perfect for gift giving.

Thanks so much for stopping in.  See you next month for another Throwback Thursday!

Featured Supplies

Wplus9 Pretty Peonies 6x8 Stamp Set Wplus9 Pretty Peonies Companion Die Wplus9 Hand Lettered Thanks 4x6" Stamp Set Wplus9 Borders & Backgrounds 2 4x6 Clear Stamps Wplus9 White Premium Cardstock Wplus9 Black Premium Cardstock Wplus9 Wild Mango PURE COLOR Dye Ink Pad Wplus9 Mojito PURE COLOR Dye Ink Pad Wplus9 Flamingo PURE COLOR Dye Ink Wplus9 Appletini PURE COLOR Dye Ink *Hero Arts Memories Rubber Stamp DYE Ink Pad BLACK AF101 *WOW Embossing Powder OPAQUE BRIGHT WHITE SUPER FINE WL01SF *Versamark WATERMARK Rubber Stamp Emboss Chalk Resist INK PAD *Precision Heat Embossing Emboss Tool Gun Hero Arts PW200 *Tsukineko Rubber Stamp Ink Pad 6 SPONGE DAUBERS *Tim Holtz Distress MARKERS SPICED MARMALADE Ranger TDM32663 *Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD MOWED LAWN Ranger SUMMER

InLinkz.com

Blending with Ocean Drive

Hi there, It's Maureen here today. The design team has really been knocking it out of the park with the fabulous new PURECOLOR South Beach collection! And today, I have two cards featuring blending techniques using Ocean Drive.

My first card uses Ocean Drive, Flamingo and Coconut Husk inks with two previously released colors. The new collection is not only perfectly coordinated to work together, but also works perfectly with the Original 10 Collection.

Wplus9 Supplies:
Stamps: Spring Blooms, Hand Lettered Hello // Inks: Wild Mango Dye Ink, Appletini Dy Ink, Flamingo Dye Ink, Coconut Husk Dye Ink // Dies: Hand Lettered Hello Die

I started this card by stamping the leaves from Spring Blooms in Appletini Dye Ink. Then, using a blending tool, I sponged Ocean Drive all around the leaves, making sure to leave the spaces where the flowers would be stamped white. Then I went in and did the rest of my stamping. Adding Ocean Drive to the background really gave this one layer card the feel of dimension without adding additional layers.

Who says you need coordinating card stock for every ink color?  When you have a quality ink, like PURECOLOR Dye Ink, you can make your own colored cardstock easily! Here I used a blending tool and Ocean Drive dye ink and made a sentiment strip to match my project perfectly.

Wplus9 Supplies:
Stamps: Coming Up Roses, Strictly Sentiments 2, Backgrounds & Borders 2// Inks:  Flamingo Dye Ink, Miami Spice Dye Ink, Ocean Drive Dye Ink, Coconut Husk Dye Ink, Mojito Dye Ink// Dies: Hand Lettered Hello Die

I hope you've enjoyed my projects today! See you back here tomorrow for more before these beauties officially go on sale at midnight June 5, 2014!