Ink to Paper :: February Release Day One

It's that special time of the month when we start sneaking peeks at the Ink to Paper product releases!  These new items are officially available for purchase on February 15th in the Ink to Paper shop.

There are so many gorgeous new stamps and dies this month--especially if you love florals!  I have some new Border Bling dies, too, which I'm excited about! Today, we're introducing the Blossoming Branches collection, Border Bling: Skinny Vees Frame dies, and Just Sentiments: Easter stamps.

I'm smitten with the Blossoming Branches set--it's so perfect for spring and so easy to stamp!  I chose a cool color palette for my first card, stamping a border of branches, leaves, and blossoms, then framing them with the Skinny Vees frames.  You'll notice this month that the Border Bling dies are coming to you with a couple extra dies--our hope is that you'll have a little more variety with them this way.  The 'hello' die comes with the frame set, too!

I paired that up with 'thinking of you' which I curved to the flow of the hello die cut.  You can find that sentiment in the BB stamp set.

Supplies:
Stamps: Blossoming Branches
Ink: Dark Indigo, Honey Nut, Aqua Mist, Lilac Grace
Paper: Dark Indigo, White
Dies: Blossoming Branches, Border Bling: Skinny Vees Frame
Other: gold crochet thread

I bet that the Blossoming Branches collection has probably already put you in a happy mood :)  For my second card, I paired lighter, more subdued colors like Sweet Blush, Autumn Rose, and Limeade Ice with Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Fizz against a bright white background to make the leaves and blossoms really stand out.  Small details like sequins, extra stamped leaves, and the V design on the Skinny Frame mean this card is clean, but not exactly simple.

You can get more mileage from your sentiments by masking out certain words.  Here, I taped off 'blessed Easter' from 'Wishing you a blessed Easter'.  By doing that, I could use 'Wishing you a' with 'Happy Easter.'  I also used that technique on my previous card, using only a portion of the entire message beginning with 'thinking of you'.

I stamped some smaller leaves under the branch for extra greenery.  For placement, I lightly traced around the branch die cut with a pencil before I adhered it, and then removed it to stamp the leaves.  After my stamping was done, I erased the pencil marks and adhered the branch in place.

Finally, a skinny border frame in an unexpected color makes the entire card pop!  I love pastels--especially for spring--but I also love to infuse a little bit of fun into a project, especially when it's a surprise, like this Raspberry Fizz frame.

Supplies:
Stamps: Blossoming Branches, Just Sentiments: Easter
Ink: Autumn Rose, Sweet Blush, Limeade Ice, Dark Chocolate
Paper: Raspberry Fizz, White
Dies: Blossoming Branches, Border Bling: Skinny Vees Frame
Other: Sequins

Thank you so much for joining me today.  We're just getting started and I'll be back every day this week with more cards!  As always, there's so much inspiration to be found over on the Ink to Paper blog--be sure to stop by!