Inside The Studio - Stock Updates

I wanted to pop in quickly to re-post the announcement that was posted in our News Feed over on the store website.

We have had an influx of orders this month due to an increase in both direct orders and our wholesale program. Thank you all so much. Your support is truly appreciated!

As a result, our already modest inventory is much lower than normal. Please be assured that I am monitoring our ordering trends closely and will be adjusting our starting inventories accordingly to keep up with demand. Our restocking guidelines will also be adjusted accordingly to ensure that the wait times you endure for a sold out item to be restocked is minimal.

We have several shipments expected to arrive during the first week of January including:

Love Birds Die
Love Notes Die
A Pocketful Die
A Pocketful: Valentine
Heartfelt Mix

We will post another announcement as soon as they arrive. Be sure to subscribe to the News Feed if you have not already to be notified as soon as possible.

Again, thank you so much for supporting Wplus9 and choosing to shop with us. I am so excited about the upcoming year and look forward to sharing everything we have in store with you. We hope to continue to be able to inspire you and supply your crafting needs for many years to come.

Dawn Woleslagle

If you want to be the first to be notified of any store updates, please subscribe to the RSS feed by clicking the icon on the store website next to the "Recent News" heading on the home page.

Thanks again, and I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Design Spotlight

Leah Cornelius
Featuring: Flora & Fauna I

Anya Schrier
Featuring: Love Birds, Love Birds Die, Love You More, and Heartfelt Mix

Suzanne Dahlberg
Featuring: Winter Wishes

Christina MacLaren
Featuring: Woodgrain Silhouettes Additions

Another round of inspiring projects! Remember, the best way for me to see what you're creating is to add your projects to our Flickr Gallery. Thanks!

Creating Just Because

It's not very often that I craft or create without an end goal in mind these days. I must admit, I do miss those days. Today's card is the product of one of those rare opportunities. A little bit of free time. No deadline. No challenge. No plan. No recipient in mind.

It had been quite awhile since I used the pattern images from Poinsettia Patterns. I decided to pair them with Spring Post and Love You More, to create a colorful love card suitable for any time of year. I started with the sentiment panel and then pulled from my stash of papers to match the colors I'd starting stamping in.

I really love the way this turned out. No rhyme, no reason...just because. thanks for stopping by today and I hope you are all on track with your holiday plans! Someone needs to be. ;o)

Project Supplies

Stamps: Love You More, Poinsettia Patterns, Spring Post (Wplus9)
Ink: Ruby Red, Cameo Coral dye ink (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger): London Fog Momento ink (Tsukineko)
Paper: aqua - Thrift Shop (October Afternoon); pink - Uncommon Collection (Authentique); red - Nordic Holiday (Basic Grey); White cardstock
Other: buttons, twine (Papertrey Ink); Doily (Wilton); sewing machine and thread; pinking shears (Fiskars)

Dec/Jan 2012 Releas Day Group Post

It's Release Day! All of our Dec/Jan 2012 stamps are now available for purchase at www.wplus9.com. If you missed the release, you can start here to catch up.

Release Day is also Group post day. Release Day is reserved with one last parting project from each of the ladies that I get the pleasure of showcasing.

Dawn Woleslagle

Featuring: Heartfelt Mix

Lea Lawson

Featuring: Love You More

Savitri Wilder

Featuring: Heartfelt Mix, Hearts & Clouds Die, A Pocketful

Elise Durenberger

Featuring: Love You More, Love Birds, Love Birds Die, Very Vintage Greetings, Label Layers 3 Die

Jinny Newlin

Featured: Heartfelt Mix, Hearts & Clouds Die, Love You More

Jean Martin

Featured: Love You More, A Pocketful: Valentine, Love Notes Die

Kerrianne Gwin

Featured: A Pocketful: Valentine, Love Notes Die

Christina Kowalczyk

Featured: Love Notes Die, Love You More

Aren't they all wonderful?! I can't express how much I appreciate these ladies...and you. I have enjoyed seeing so many new names and reading all of the comments you all have left. Thanks so much for joining us for this release!

Dec/Jan Release Day 4 - Full Reveal

It's time for the full reveal! Time to show you the sets we are releasing this month in their entirety. All products will be available for purchase on December 5th at www.wplus9.com.

Love You More

Details

• is a 6x8 clear photopolymer stamp set
• contains 19 stamps; 2 word art images and 17 mix-and-match sentiments and images
• will be available for purchase December 5th for just $19

Love Birds Die

Details

• coordinates with Love Birds stamp set
• comes on a single die that can be easily snipped and separated
• will be available for purchase December 5th for just $9

Heartfelt Mix

Details

• is a 6x8 clear photopolymer stamp set
• contains 24 stamps; 12 images and 12 sentiments
• will be available for purchase December 5th for just $19

Hearts & Clouds Die

• coordinates with Heartfelt Mix stamp set
• comes on a single die that can be easily snipped and separated
• will be available for purchase December 5th for just $7

A Pocketful: Valentine

• is a 4x6 clear photopolymer stamp set
• contains 15 stamps; 1 pocket image, 3 pocket filler images, 5 accent images, and 6 sentiments
• will be available for purchase December 5th for just $13

Love Notes Die

• compliments the A Pocketful stamp series (*Please note: these die cuts were designed to be used on their own. Unlike the A Pocketful Die, they are not scaled to be stamped onto with the pocket or envelope images in the companion sets)
• comes on a single die that can be easily snipped and separated
• will be available for purchase December 5th for just $7

We have had record participation this month, and I can't thank you enough for sharing a small portion of your day with me. But, I can do one more giveaway. Want to win the entire release? Just leave a comment by 10:00 PM EST TONIGHT December 4th to enter. I will select one random winner from all comments. Winners will be posted here by 11:00 PM EST.

Good luck!

Dec/Jan 2012 Release Day 3

Welcome back to day 3 of our Dec/Jan Release! If you are just joining us, be sure to check out the last two days of previews beginning here. Thank you so much for all of the kind comments you all have left so far. I am so happy to hear how excited everyone is for this release!

Today we are giving you guys a peek at our final stamp set and die. Many of you have been requesting another follow-up set to the popular A Pocketful series, and today, it is my pleasure to introduce:

A Pocketful: Valentine

• is a 4x6 clear photopolymer stamp set
• contains 15 stamps; 1 pocket image, 3 pocket filler images, 5 accent images, and 6 sentiments
• will be available for purchase December 5th for just $13

Love Notes Die

• compliments the A Pocketful stamp series (these dies are meant to coordinate with the pockets and stamped images from the Pocketful series, not to be stamped onto)
• comes on a single die that can be easily snipped and separated
• will be available for purchase December 5th for just $7

Are you ready for a pocketful of fun?! First up, a bright and cheerful card full of personality.

To create the background panel, I stamped the small solid envelope and little solid conversation hearts randomly similar to this.

For the focal point, I used the large envelope die cuts by themselves. I added a little postmark using Postmarked, and stamped "Be Mine" from the A Pocketful: Valentine set directly onto the envelope. I matted the letters using Label Layers 2.

Next up, a card that almost found it's way to the trash. It just wasn't doing it for me until I added the natural white panel and stamped the flowers from A Pocketful. Crazy how that happens, huh?

I used the large pocket from the A Pocketful Die to tuck the large envelopes from the Love Notes Die into. I wanted to show you an up close shot of all of the dies from this set. They are so detailed. Each die has embossed lines and little hearts that are punched out when you cut them. You can see where I've used distress ink on the small pocket to bring out the faux stitching created by the embossing.

To add my sentiment, I cut a label from Label Layers 2 and used just the end and stamped "Valentine" from A Pocketful: Valentine onto it. To make the heart in my envelope stand out, I adhered a little scrap of red cardstock to the back.

Finally, I wanted to create some little valentines that would be easy to mass produce and hand out at school. With the fun images, and by mixing and matching the sentiments from the original A Pocketful set you can make both boy and girl appropriate valentines.

Aren't they adorable? These are so fun and easy to make.

The finished size is 2.5 x 3.5 inches. To attach the candy I used a 1 inch x 3.5 inch strip scored as shown below and adhered to the back of the card.

The border image from Class Act created a perfect frame for each one. I used the outlined cluster of conversation hearts to fill each pocket and colored them with Copic markers. These would make a great project for the kids to help with. You could pre-stamp them and then pass them off to the little ones to color with markers, crayons, or colored pencils.

I really hope you have enjoyed all of the sneak peeks so far. And please be sure to visit the design team to see more.

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

Would you like to win A Pocketful: Valentine and the Love Notes Die? Just leave me a comment by 9:00 AM EST December 4th to enter. I will select one random winner from all comments. Winners will be posted here.

I will be back tomorrow with the full reveal, and another chance to win!

Project Supplies

Valentine Be Mine
Stamps: A Pocketful: Valentine - available 12-5-11, Postmarked, Defining Words (Wplus9)
Ink: Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, Kiwi Kiss (Stampin' Up!); Thatched Straw - VersaMagic (Tsukineko)
Dies Label Layers 2, Love Notes - available 12-05-11 (Wplus9)
Paper: Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz (Papertrey Ink); White; October Afternoon
Other: buttons (Papertrey Ink); thread; Bakers Twine (Martha Stewart Crafts)

Pocketful of Love Notes
Stamps: A Pocketful: Valentine - available 12-5-11, A Pocketful(Wplus9)
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss (Stampin' Up!); Antique Linen, Faded Jeans distress ink (Ranger)
Dies Label Layers 2, A Pocketful Hearts & Clouds and Love Notes - both available 12-05-11 (Wplus9)
Paper: White, Natural White; Five & Dime, Modern Homemaker paper pads (October Afternoon)
Fibers: crochet trim (Simplicity)
Other: buttons and twine (Papertrey Ink); thread; Snow Cap acrylic paint dabber (Ranger)

School Valentines
Stamps: A Pocketful: Valentine - available 12-5-11, A Pocketful, Class Act (Wplus9)
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger); markers (Copics)
Paper: White, Pure Poppy, Kiwi Kiss (Papertrey Ink)

Dec/Jan 2012 Release Day 2

Welcome back to day 2 of our Dec/Jan 2012 Release! Make sure you have a cup of coffee (or wine) handy, because I just could not stop creating. I am so excited to introduce:

Heartfelt Mix

• is a 6x8 clear photopolymer stamp set
• contains 24 stamps; 12 images and 12 sentiments
• will be available for purchase December 5th for just $19

Hearts & Clouds Die

• coordinates with Heartfelt Mix stamp set
• comes on a single die that can be easily snipped and separated
• will be available for purchase December 5th for just $7

And we have a coordinating die for one of our very first releases. This die, takes Love Birds to a whole new level of fun!

Love Birds Die

• coordinates with Love Birds stamp set
• comes on a single die that can be easily snipped and separated
• will be available for purchase December 5th for just $9

First up, a bright and clean card featuring the new Love Birds Die and stamp set paired with Heartfelt Mix. These sets work so well together.

I started by prepping all of my pieces, which meant cutting out my die cuts. The Love Birds Die comes grouped together on one die, but can easily be separated by snipping the little metal connectors to be used for negative cutting.

Then I stamped all of my pieces. The dies are generously sized and the stamps are trimmed close to the images, making lining up and centering your stamps on these dies a breeze!

I used the Label Layers 2 Die as a backdrop for my little birds perched in the tree. I cut the label first from blue cardstock, and then again from white. I nested the resulting blue label die into the negative space of the white one for a unique twist on using die cuts. I added some clouds and my sentiment, both from Heartfelt Mix to finish this card off.

Next is another "morph" card from the previous, continuing with the same idea of nesting my die cuts.

I cut out my clouds first and stamped them with the cloud image from Heartfelt Mix.

The clouds from this die and stamp combo are created without a border. The die cut is slightly smaller than the stamp image. This allows the pattern to bleed from edge to edge. It also creates some great layering opportunities for layering the stamp and die cut separately as I've done in this example.

After stamping, I nested the clouds back into their negative spaces and layered another plain white cloud on top. Oh, and did you see the little sun from A Pocketful peeking out from behind the clouds? I added my sentiment and a little wire/string image from Heartfelt Mix to perch my bird on to finish this one off.

Next, I wanted a fun and cheerful little "pick me up" card. I started by stamping the triple string image several times in pink, red, blue, and yellow across the front of my card base. I then used the Hearts & Clouds Die to cut out a small and large heart. I stamped them each. There are 4 patterns included for the large heart and 3 for the small heart. I used the old fashioned clothespin image to "hang" them from the string.

Next, I wanted to do a "baby" card. But one for the new parents. I love the idea of using the large hearts to represent the parents, and the small one to represent the new little one.

First, I created a background pattern by stamping several of the large heart images in a tone-on-tone fashion.

For the focal image, I used our Label Layers 3 Die, two of the heart images stamped directly onto the label, and the small heart die cut from the Hearts & Clouds Die stitched in the center.

My sentiment and a little lace border from Mehndi Medallions at the top finish this one off.

My final card is probably my favorite of the day. I made a fun little discovery while playing with the dotted heart stamp from Love You More and the heart die cuts from the Hearts & Clouds Die.

LOVE that butterfly! I started by stamping the heart image four times like so:

I then die cut a bunch of the hearts from vellum. I wasn't sure how many I would use at the time, but I ended up using 4 large (2 layers each side for the top wing) and 2 small (1 layer each side for the bottom).

The slightly taller shape of these hearts made for perfect wings. I layered them all together gluing just the bottom points where they meet with Tombow Mono multi glue. I hand stitched in the body and antennae with red floss. I added the "Today, Tomorrow, Forever" sentiment from Love You More as the "trail". (yeah, I smiled when I finished this card, it just makes me happy)

Some foliage from Love Birds and little Mehndi Medallions background stamping finish this one off nicely.

I really hope you are enjoying the previews so far. These sets are so much fun to use. Be sure to stop by the Design Team's blogs to see what they have done. They always think of something that I haven't.

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

Would you like to win Heartfelt Mis, Love Birds, the Hearts & Clouds Die, and the Love Birds Die? 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.

The fun continues tomorrow with another stamp set and coordinating die, see you then!

Project Supplies

Happy Thoughts
Stamps: Heartfelt Mix - available 12-5-11, Love Birds(Wplus9)
Ink: Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink); Riding Hood Red (Stampin' Up!); Thatched Straw - VersaMagic, Rose Bud - Momento, Versamark (Tsukineko)
Dies Label Layers 2, Hearts & Clouds Die, Love Birds - both available 12-05-11 (Wplus9)
Paper: Aqua Mist, Raspberry Fizz (Papertrey Ink); White
Other: White Detail embossing powder (Stampendous)

Here For You
Stamps: Heartfelt Mix - available 12-5-11, Love Birds, A Pocketful (Wplus9)
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Summer Sun, Close To Cocoa dye ink (Stampin' Up!)
Dies Hearts & Clouds Die, Love Birds - both available 12-05-11 (Wplus9)
Paper: Summer Sunrise (Papertrey Ink); White

Hang In There
Stamps: Heartfelt Mix - available 12-5-11 (Wplus9)
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Close To Cocoa dye ink (Stampin' Up!); Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink); Thatched Straw - VersaMagic, Rose Bud - Momento (Tsukineko)
Dies Hearts & Clouds Die - available 12-05-11 (Wplus9)
Paper: Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, Raspberry Fizz (Papertrey Ink); White
Other: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Here For You
Stamps: Heartfelt Mix - available 12-5-11, Love Birds, A Pocketful (Wplus9)
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Summer Sun, Close To Cocoa dye ink (Stampin' Up!)
Dies Hearts & Clouds Die, Love Birds - both available 12-05-11 (Wplus9)
Paper: Summer Sunrise (Papertrey Ink); White

Baby Congrats
Stamps: Heartfelt Mix - available 12-5-11, Mehndi Medallions (Wplus9)
Ink: Chocolate Chip dye ink (Stampin' Up!); Antique Linen distress ink (Ranger); Sweet Plum, Lulu Lavender - Momento, Versamark (Tsukineko)
Dies Hearts & Clouds Die - available 12-05-11. Label Layers 3 (Wplus9)
Paper: Lavender Moon, Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink); Kraft, Natural White
Other: button & twine (Papertrey Ink); white thread; White Detail embossing Powder (Stampendous); Scalloped edge punch (Stampin' Up!)

Butterfly Kisses
Stamps: Heartfelt Mix, Love You More - both available 12-5-11, Mehndi Medallions, Love Birds (Wplus9)
Ink: Riding Hood Red dye ink (Stampin' Up!); Antique Linen distress ink (Ranger); Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink)
Dies Hearts & Clouds Die - available 12-05-11 (Wplus9)
Paper: Fine Linen, Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink); Kraft, Natural White
Other: twine (Papertrey Ink); white thread; Scalloped edge punch (EK Success); red embroidery floss; Mono Multi Glue (Tombow)

December/January 2012 Release Day 1

Hello! Can you believe it's December already? And, it's that time again...Release Week! For those of you that are new to Wplus9, we will spend the next couple of days getting up close and personal with the products that we will be releasing this month. All previewed items will be available for purchase on December 5th at www.wplus9.com.

Before we get started, I want to announce that starting with this release, we will now be releasing new stamps every other month. Don't worry, we still have tons of ideas and new stamps coming, just on a little different schedule.

So let's get started with our Dec/Jan release shall we. This release is all about Valentine's Day. And today's stamp set is amazing. Let's face it, most of the time we are creating for our men when it comes to this holiday, or for our children's classmates. This set is gender neutral, packed with mix and match graphics and sentiments, bold, classic, and 6"x8" of fun!

Love You More

• is a 6x8 clear photopolymer stamp set
• contains 19 stamps; 2 word art images and 17 mix-and-match sentiments and images
• will be available for purchase December 5th for just $19

First up, I knew I wanted to use the word art image that started the set. It's a little something I used to write inside cards to my husband. "I love you more today than yesterday...but not as much as tomorrow." He can always count on getting at least one card a year with this hand written inside. Our ten year anniversary is also this Valentine's Day, so I decided to create a scrapbook page to mark this milestone. Whew! Ten years. Shouldn't we get a trophy or something?!

I stitched the gray patterned paper to the bottom half of the page to create a pocket. Inside I tucked a journaling card I created using the primary journal background lines from Classroom Backgrounds, and another of my favorite pictures of us. I will continue to add things here and there before our anniversary.

On the right side I stamped the large word art image in red. I love this image. Talk about quick and easy! I added some little die cut envelopes to the bottom corner (more on these later this week).

I added some little sentiments here and there, "Today, Tomorrow, Forever" to the top.

And "Heart You More" to the bottom.

I think the thing I am enjoying most about this set is how great it is for creating one layer cards. With one stamp and a little selective inking, you can create this:

Or this:

Too easy? How about 2 stamps and some clever scoring? Pair the heart bubble image with the bird from The Birds & The Bees for a cute little set of mini note cards.

Still too clean and simple? OK, use the word art as a starting point for a card that looks incredibly detailed and involved, but still only uses one stamp.

I have only scratched the surface of this set. Be sure to stop by the Design Team's blogs to see what they have done.

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

Would you like to win Love You More, and The Birds and The Bees? Just leave me a comment by 9:00 AM EST December 2nd to enter. I will select one random winner from all comments. Winners will be posted here.

The fun continues tomorrow with another heartfelt set and coordinating die, see you then!

Project Supplies

Ten Years
Stamps: Love You More - available 12-1-11 (Wplus9), Class Act, Classroom Backgrounds
Ink: Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink); Riding Hood Red (Stampin' Up!)
Dies Label Layers 2, Love Notes - available 12-01-11 (Wplus9)
Paper: Designer Paper *retired (Stampin' Up!); Pure Poppy, White (Papertrey Ink)
Fiber: Pure Poppy saddle stitch ribbon (Papertrey Ink); thread
Other: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Kraft/Black Valentine
Stamps: Love You More - available 12-1-11 (Wplus9)
Ink: Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger); Red Magic Versamagic (Tsukineko)
Paper: Kraft
Other: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Kraft/White Valentine
Stamps: Love You More - available 12-1-11 (Wplus9)
Ink: Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink); Red Magic Versamagic (Tsukineko)
Paper: Kraft
Other: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Heart Bubble
Stamps: Love You More - available 12-1-11, The Birds & The Bees (Wplus9)
Ink: Riding Hood Red (Stampin' Up!)
Paper: White
Other: Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers); Martha Stewart Scoring Board, MS stylus

Love You More
Stamps: Love You More - available 12-1-11 (Wplus9)
Ink: Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Love Notes - available 12-01-11 (Wplus9)
Paper: Hawaiian Shores, Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink); White; Thrift Shop Paper Pad (October Afternoon); Doily (Wilton)
Other: Buttons (Papertrey Ink); Glossy Accents (Ranger)