Release Sneak Peek: Woodgrain Silhouettes

Happy Monday! Today is the first day of sneak peeks for our April release. I have been anxiously awaiting this day as I am head over heels in love with these sets. I will be releasing two new sets this month and they are gorgeous. Today I will be giving you a peek at Woodgrain Silhouettes.

• Woodgrain Silhouettes contains 17 stamps; 6 sentiments, 10 images, and 1 background building stamp.
• It will be available for purchase Friday, April 9th.
• If you are a nature lover, this is a MUST have set.

For my fist card I decided to focus on the background stamp, a gorgeous woodgrain. This whole set started with my desire for a classic, rustic, realistic looking woodgrain background.

I masked the heart and stamped the woodgrain in brown ink onto Kraft cardstock. Doesn't it remind you of initials carved in a tree? The background stamp is sized perfectly for covering the entire front of a standard 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 card (from side-to-side) at approx. 5 1/2" long x 1 1/2" tall.

And this looks amazing stamped in other colors too.

Here I stamped it in yellow ink onto yellow cardstock, and paired it with one of the four silhouetted images included in the set, a Crocus flower. These circles are bold, sized at just under 1 3/4" in diameter, they make a perfect focal point and fit great with a 1 3/4" circle punch. I left this card sans-sentiment as I love it so much, I know I will be mailing it out for the first occasion that arises!

Your last sneak peek today also uses the same background and circle stamp, but I've given it a rustic feel and added the "Happy Mother's Day" sentiment that comes in the set.

This time I inked the stamp unevenly on purpose to get the worn weathered looked. I also inked up the edges and added some leaf stamping peeking out from behind the crocus in white. I love this effect!

I chose the crocus flower to pair with Mother's Day because I couldn't think of a more appropriate flower. I mean a mother seems delicate, but no matter what the obstacle, even against all odds, she comes through for us again and again. Just like the crocus flower who looks so delicate but still forces it's way up through the bitter cold and snow to bloom and let us know that spring is on it's way.

So what do you think so far? And this is only the beginning! The sneak peeks only get better from here, I promise. I will be showing you the second set tomorrow, and combining the sets for my samples on Wednesday. Then on Thursday you will get to see both of the sets in their entirety before they are available at midnight.

Want to win a set? Leave me a comment by 11:59 pm EST Monday night and I will select 1 random winner to receive Woodgrain Silhouettes.

Embellish Color Challenge with Stitching

Love me some Embellish Magazine! The challenge this time around is to use pink, aqua and kraft, and to incorporate stitching. About half-way through this card I decided that I really wished I had stitched the hearts on a white panel...but after all of that piercing and stitching I was not about to start over. There's always tomorrow, right?! ;o)

This really is a simple card, just time consuming thanks to the hand stitching. After I pre-pierced the hearts and outer edge, I sat down with two of my guilty pleasures (a glass of wine and America's Next Top Model) and stitched away. I used two shades of light pink for the hearts and embellished them with some punched hearts, buttons and ribbon. The only stamps on this card, GASP!, are the tree tops from Funky Foliage pulling double duty as a flower. Here's a detail shot of the hearts.

I know I haven't been sharing too many projects lately...but there is a good reason. I have been crafting, oh yes I've been crafting. But you will have to wait until Monday to see them as I will be starting our APRIL RELEASE!!! And let me tell you, I have had a VERY hard time putting these babies down!

Who's On Cue With Color?

Karen Baker

Narrowing down my favorites to just 7 (my favorite number) was hard. I seriously could have highlighted them all! But Karen's ingenious little number had me wrapped the moment I saw it! I love every detail about it and would love to CASE it...but am not yet ready to start cutting up the sheets. LOL Now that is some serious commitment to crafting! ;o)

I also wanted to add that I had so much fun looking through all of the submissions, I'm telling you I found inspiration in everyone. Thanks so much for playing along and I hope you play in the current Color Cue!

EBTKS & CARDS Blog Challenge

Happy almost Thursday! You know what that means...it's almost Friday, yah! I just had to take a break and participate in some challenges. Everything But The Kitchen Sink had an interesting sketch I wanted to try.

And the CARDS blog challenge this week was to use 8 colors. 8 COLORS! Now this was really a challenge for me, seriously, I finally got to seven colors and almost gave up. But you know me, I pulled out all of the stops and threw in some yellow floss!

I used the Look Up set from Practicing Creativity and my Marvy Uchida heart punches to create little heart shaped hot air balloons. And I thought that the banner in the set could help me use at least 4 colors. Score! So for the scalloped edge in the sketch I used the banner...that counts, right? Did some inking on the edges in Spring Rain to represent a little bit of sky, and added a button to the center balloon. Let's see, I'm at 7 right? White, Aqua Mist, Close to Cocoa, Spring Rain, Lavender Moon, Spring Moss, and Ocean Tides. So I needed 1 more. That's when I pulled out the yellow floss and added it as the string for the banner, tied a bow, popped the button off so I could thread some through it, and voila! Done.

While I love how it turned out...I don't know if I'll be trying to pull that many colors together again anytime soon.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a chance to make a creative mess today!

I Didn't Want To...But I Do

Seriously, I did not want to like Copic markers, but I do. Like everyone else, I wondered if they would live up to the hype. I mean, I have some Prismacolor pencils and markers and pastels, do I really need another coloring medium? The $5-6 price tag per marker seemed too high to justify switching. So, I ordered just a few to try and I finally got a chance to play around with them. I tested them on one of the daffodil images from the Easter Daffodils digikit.

Now, I do want to say that they are not the easiest things to use right off the bat. Boy did I do some hideous work the first couple of tries. But if you know me, then you know that I am not one to give up easily! I don't know if I am happy or mad that I didn't give up. Because once I got the hang of it, I do like the results. (although, I am far from "good" at it) With even more practice, (and more colors) I think they could produce some stunning results. Hence the "mad" part...just what I need, another expense. ;o)

So which do I prefer? I still love my Prismacolor pencils for the textured look they create and ease of use, by far I find them the easiest to blend and the most forgiving. Between the markers..here's my basic breakdown:

Nibs
Prismacolor Markers (PCM) have a harder nib than Copic Markers (CM), I prefer the softer, paint brush like feel of the CM.

Color
I found them both to lay color with equal coverage and fluidity. If you are not careful, especially on porous paper, the CM color will bleed. However, the CM markers were much less likely to cause the black edges of printed images to bleed.

Blending
I found it much easier to blend colors with the CM. I also found the CM colorless blender performed much better than the PCM. The PCM blender acted much more like an eraser and removed color more so than the PCM blender. Tip: After more practice, I discovered that for me, it is easier to lay down all of my midtone color first, covering all areas. Then come back in with the shade where I want it, and blend the edges where they meet. I then come back in with the midtone and go over the blend. Last I go in and add my highlights using just the colorless blender. That way if I take away too much color, I can go over it again with a highlight color to further blend it.

Overall
If you are doing flat coloring, Prismacolor markers will do just fine, but I personally prefer the Copic markers over the Prismacolor markers for blending. The Copic markers also had next to no odor in comparison to the strong odor of the Prismacolor markers.

I will definitely be expanding my Copic collection, and will be sharing some more in depth coloring techniques with you all as I learn. Thanks for stopping by today and hope you are having a FABulous weekend!

Color Cue {2} Challenge

Details:
Create a card, scrapbook page, digital layout, tag, whatever...just make sure to use the above colors. (I used PTI's Stamper's Select, Ocean Tides, Lemon Tart, and SU's Melon Mambo) But anything you have on hand close to the colors will do. Sentiments or outlines in black are fine as well.

Create your project and post it to your blog or online photo gallery such as Flickr or SCS. Add a direct link to your project (not your homepage please) by clicking the "add your link" button below.

Deadline:
You have until April 7th at 11:59 pm EST to play along. You will know the deadline has passed when the link to add your project is no longer available.

Bonus:
If you have Wplus9 stamps in your stash already, now would be the time to bust them out. I will be collecting lucky participants to feature in the upcoming "On Cue with Color" section here on the blog and at The Studio. If you don't have any yet...don't worry I still want to be inspired by you and you will still be featured here on the blog!

I used Funky Flower to create some fun patterned paper.

Maile Belles used Love Birds to create a love scene that just drips with sweetness.

Elise Durenberger did some super fun and creative pattern stamping using Funky Flowers.

Savitri Wilder also used Love Birds and Funky Foliage to create a stunning CAS card.

Now it's your turn! Add your link below.

Inside the Studio: Random Updates

I just wanted to share a few quick announcements with everyone.

Shipping

Great news, we now have more options! See the breakdown below for details:

United States

• $3.00 Flat Rate First Class via the US Postal Service
  
• $5.00 Flat Rate Priority Mail via the US Postal Service
• FREE shipping for purchases $50 and over!
• UPS (calculated by weight)

Though I recommend Priority Mail (2-3 business days), I added the $3.00 First Class shipping for those of you that do not necessarily care for tracking and don't mind the extra delivery time.

Canada

• US Postal Service
• UPS

I've added US Postal Service shipping methods to our Canadian shipping options. I found the rates to be much better than the estimated rates through UPS. Both cost and delivery time will be calculated based on the delivery method you select and your total shipment weight.

A great big THANK YOU to Dana for following up with me on the Canadian shipping and helping me to iron out some wrinkles. Dana can vouch for us, that we do read, respond, and follow-up with all customer service emails!

International

I have not added these options to the store shipping information page as of yet. However, I have been working on it as promised and will continue to add countries to the list as I test each. I am very pleased to announce that we are now offering shipping to Australia!

*All Canadian and International packages will be marked as commercial merchandise at sale value. You are responsible for any applicable duty or taxes that may be required for the delivery of your package. All shipping accounts are in the business name and therefore cannot be shipped as gifts**.

**If items are won as a result of a contest entry, those items will be shipped as gifts.

Social Media

• Flickr - We now have a Flickr Gallery where you can share all of your wonderful Wplus9 Design Studio creations! I encourage you to add yours, I can't wait to see what everyone has done.
• Facebook - Become a fan and be notified of important updates and share your thoughts.

Color Cue

Thanks so much to those of you that participated in the Color Cue this month! I found a ton of inspiration looking through your links! I will be doing something super fun with the Color Cue's so if you haven't participated yet, you may want to start.

Would you like to be featured as "On Cue with Color"? Starting with the next Color Cue (going live tomorrow), we will select 3 lucky participants to be featured on the website in the Color Cue section at www.wplus9.com! Sound like fun? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

That's it for now, we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming! Go be inspired! ;o)