Distress Oxide Stamping w/Dawn ft. BEATIFUL BUTTERFLIES

Who doesn't love hexagons and butterflies?

I know I do. Put them together, and it's a recipe for design success as far as I'm concerned. Throw in a little watercolor and it's a trifecta of fun!

Today's cards are not only fun to create, but easy as well. I used the "stamps from dies" technique along with our new Beautiful Butterflies stamp and dies with our Clear Cut Stackers: Hexagon Die to create a modern card set with a slightly vintage feel.

Watch above or watch in HD at YouTube

I stamped the all-over background pattern using a little water and Distress Oxide Inks in Candied Apple, Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feathers and Peeled Paint onto watercolor paper. The stamped pattern looked so stunning all on it's own, that it didn't require much fuss after that to pull them together into cards.

I die cut the "BEAUTIFUL" stacked sentiment from one of the medium sized hexagons and adhered a die cut "birthday" from our Happy Birthday Die on top. I colored each using an ink blending tool and matching Oxide Ink color to match each background. I finished off the sentiment with "wishes" from our Birthday Wishes stamp set stamped in PURE COLOR dye ink in Warm Wool.

I may have found a new favorite Autumn color palette!

Thanks much for stopping by today!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase. Please note: this list contains affiliate links.

3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Shop at: SSS	Wplus9 Oatmeal Cardstock Shop at: WP9	EK Success CRAFT TWEEZERS Precision Tip Shop at: SSS	Ranger MINI ROUND INK BLENDING TOOLS Shop at: SSS
Sizzix BIG SHOT Shop at: SSS	9 x 12 WHITE FUN FOAM 12 Pack Shop at: SSS	Warm Wool PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Sizzix Magnetic Platform Shop at: SSS
Birthday Wishes Shop at: WP9	Happy Birthday Die Shop at: WP9 | SSS | EH	Fiskars 4 Acrylic BLOCKS SET w Storage Shop at: SSS	Beautiful Butterflies Shop at: WP9
Beautiful Butterflies Die Shop at: WP9	Clear Cut Stackers: Hexagon Shop at: WP9	Lawn Fawn Glue Tube Shop at: SSS | EH	Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad PEACOCK FEATHERS Shop at: SSS | EH
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad CANDIED APPLE Shop at: SSS | EH	Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad PEELED PAINT Shop at: SSS | EH	Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad FOSSILIZED AMBER Shop at: SSS | EH	Ranger Studio Paint ARTIST BRUSHES Brush Shop at: SSS
Tim Holtz Tonic GLASS MEDIA MAT Shop at: SSS

August 2018 Release: Autumn Blessings and Butterfly Mandala

Hello beautiful people!

We've got some gorgeous new products hitting the stores today and I wanted to give you a look at some of the fun I've been having with them. As well as give you a heads up on some *Limited Quantity* Bundle deals available right now at wplus9.com!

I am very excited to unveil a couple of collaboration sets we've been working on with Stephanie Low Creative. Stephanie is an amazing artist and her work fits in so well here at Wplus9! The Butterfly Mandala is a perfect example of her divine illustration skills.

There is a large mandala design featuring leaves and butterflies included in the set, along with individual stamps of each of the elements that make up the mandala. One of my favorite techniques to use with the mandala is emboss resist.

I stamped the mandala pattern all over a panel of Tim Holtz Watercolor Cardstock in Versamark Ink and then heat embossed using WOW! Super Fine Bright White embossing powder. I blended Distress Oxide Inks over the entire background in Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade and Candied Apple. I splashed a little water onto the background for a mottled effect.

That gorgeous sentiment is also included in the set. I used the same technique and colors for the large "Hello" and then die cut it using the companion die.I then stamped the "fill" image included in the set using White PURE COLOR pigment ink. This image fills in the open areas of the "Hello" - perfect for a two-toned sentiment. To anchor and mat the sentiment, I used the new Clear Cut Stackers: Hexagon Die. In fact, I used that die A LOT this release!

Another must have Wplus9 x Stephanie Low Creative set is the new Autumn Blessings stamps and die.

This set is packed with images! It features the large wreath, all of the individual elements that make up the wreath so that you can create your own floral arrangements, and several sentiments that fit inside the banner and frame also included in the set. Wow!

I went with a simple watercolored wreath for this one. I stamped the image onto watercolor paper using Wplus9 PURE COLOR Dye Ink in black and then did some very simple and loose watercoloring using Daniel Smith watercolors. Any watercolors would do here, but I had a few of the Daniel Smith Palettes from Simon Says Stamp right at hand, so that's what I went with. I stamped the banner and sentiment, then die cut everything using the companion die.

I stamped a Kraft card panel using the stripe from our Borders & Backgrounds 2 stamp set in Versamark Ink and adhere to an aqua card base. I then layered my wreath and banner on top, securing in place with foam tape.

Aren't these amazing? And you know what makes them even more amazing? Right now, we have a limited quantity of Bundle Sets available for both of these. The Bundles are a 15% savings over purchasing separately! This is for direct orders only (wholesale excluded), and our way of saying "Thanks for supporting us!".

The entire release really is gorgeous and I've had a lot of fun creating with it. Here is a quick overview of all of the new stuff now available.

August 2018 Release

Autumn Blessings Shop at: WP9	Autumn Blessings Die Shop at: WP9	Autumn Blessing Bundle Shop at: WP9	Beautiful Butterflies Shop at: WP9
Beautiful Butterflies Die Shop at: WP9	Butterfly Mandala Shop at: WP9	Butterfly Mandala Die Shop at: WP9	Butterfly Mandala Bundle Shop at: WP9
Hello & Thanks Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Die Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Bundle Shop at: WP9	So Very Shop at: WP9
So Very Die Shop at: WP9	Clear Cut Stackers: Hexagon Shop at: WP9

Thanks so much for stopping in!

Happy Mail With Kara

Hello! It's Kara and I have been sending out a bit of happy mail to some of my friends. I needed to create a few more 'just because' cards to replenish my stash. I pulled out Happy Mail and as well as Friends For All Seasons: Fall for some seasonal accents.

Summer has been beautiful! While it is still warm here, I can definitely feel a shift happening as we move towards Autumn.

I know many people plan out their card designs before they begin. I am not one of them. I prefer to fly by the seat of my pants. I start by stamping, die cutting and coloring some images that I may want to use. As I start moving the pieces around I'll come up with an idea for placement.

After positioning all of the elements in the foreground scene I was really happy with how it looked. The bunny on the stump, the bunny in the pile of leaves and happy mail, but the upper portion looked empty.

I decided to add additional images in the background. In order to make them not appear to be floating in the air I cut out the circle window and popped it up on the card front. This created depth so when I tucked in the bear and butterfly they felt like they were in the background and not floating in space. I also left them uncolored to emphasize the fact that they are in the background and not the main focus of the design.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Don't forget to send out some Happy Mail!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Wplus9 White Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Love Mom Layers Die Shop at: WP9	Happy Mail Shop at: WP9	Happy Mail Die Shop at: WP9
Friends For All Seasons: Fall Shop at: WP9	Friends For All Seasons: Fall Die Shop at: WP9