It's Time for Some April Peeking...

Good morning! And it is a good one, indeed! Because! Today I can share with you two great new stamp sets by Clear Dollar Stamps. This first stamp set that I'm sharing is called "Silhouette Wishes", to be released April 1st and is the April Stamp of the Month (SOM) stamp set that is FREE with a $50.00 purchase from Clear Dollar Stamps. This set is going to be one of my favorites, and I'm sure one of yours, as it is perfect for any time of the year! I love nature stamps, and these branches, leaves and bird & nest is an all-purpose set that I know that I will grab, time and time again.

Our Design Team Coordinator, Laurie Wilson, always offers fun and interesting challenges to the team, and this card was made to satisfy three challenges: to have background stamping on the card, and to use a "Letter" or monogram or alpha on the card, and also for our inspiration challenge. Laurie chose three beautiful pillows from the Pier One website, and I chose this pillow to be inspired by. This versatile stamp was so much fun to stamp with and I know that I will be pulling it out to use over and over again. I'm sure that you will too. For ordering information and more details about this stamp set, click here. And, don't miss seeing my fellow team designer's work on "Silhouette Wishes, the April Stamp of the Month": Candy Fosta, Katie Renz. & Laurie Wilson.

All CDStamps LLC Stamp Sets Used: "Silhouette Wishes"
Cardstock & Papers: Daisy D's "Brighten My Day" Designer Paper, K&Co. "Remake Ocean Blues", Paper Trey White Cardstock
Inkpads: Stampin' Up! Night of Navy & So Saffron Inks
Markers: Sharpie Navy & Yellow Markers, Sakura Micron 01 Black Felt Marker
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Nestabilities Regular Square Die, Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch Kit, Stampin' Up! Large Oval Punch, Martha Stewart Doily Border Punch, Stampin' Up! Mat Pack, Paper Piercing Tool, Tsukineko Sponge Daubers, Kaisercraft Self-Adhesive "Yellow" Pearls, We R Memory Keepers Xtra Large Eyelet, Stampin' Up! Dimensionals, All Night Media Mini Pop Dots, Adhesives, Zots, Sewing Machine, Thread, Alpha Charm, "Bobbin" Satin Ribbon, Gold Elastic Cord
Special Techniques: Background Stamping, Sponging, Dry Embossing, Machine Stitching, Paper Piercing, Paper Tole

INSTRUCTIONS:
A 5.5" x 8.5" card base was cut from Paper Trey White Cardstock and set aside. I cut a piece of Paper Trey White Cardstock to 5.5" wide x 4.25 high and background stamped the leaves and bearries using Stampin' Up! So Saffron and Night of Navy Inks. then using the Cuttlebug and Nestabilities Regular Square Dies, I cut the navy blue square mat to 2.5", and the smallest white image square mat (diamond) to 2". Since there was no Nestabilities Regular Square Die the next size between the navy blue mat and the white image mat, I hand cut a square mat from Daisy D's "Brighten My Day" designer paper, to 2.25". I cut the lower navy blue horizontal strip to 5.5" wide x 1-1/8" high out of K&Co. "Remake Ocean Blues" Designer Paper, and then, using a Martha Stewart Doily Border Punch, created the lacy edge along the bottom of the navy blue strip. I glued the navy blue punched strip to the bottom area of the card, and the blue Swiss Dots embossed square to the upper right of the card front, and using my Janome Hello Kitty ; ) Sewing Machine, I machine stitched around the left, top and bottom sides of the card front, as well as the four sides of the navy blue Swiss Dots embossed square.

The main stamped image was created in the following manner. I first stamped the branch twice: once onto the die cut white image square, and again on another piece of Paper Trey White Cardstock, and did the same thing with the yellow bird. Using a Tsukineko Sponge Dauber, I sponged heavily around the four sides of the white image square using Stampin' Up! So Saffron Ink and then, "tipped" the edge of the same image square using Stampin' Up! Night of Navy Ink. Using the Stampin' Up! Mat Pack, I paper pierced the four corners of the image square using a Paper Piercing Tool.. The bird and branches that were stamped on the other piece of Paper Trey White Cardstock was then cut out carefully, and then popped up overtop the underneath matching stamped image using All Night Media Mini Pop Dots. I added "yellow berries" to the branches using KaiserCraft Self-Adhesive "Yellow" Pearls. The stamped and popped image was then glued to the gold mat and then they were both popped up overtop the navy blue embossed square using Stampin' Up! Dimensionals.

The sentiment was stamped onto Paper Trey White Cardstock using Stampin' Up! Night of Navy Ink and then punched it out using the Stampin' Up! Large Oval Punch, Using a Tsukineko Sponge Dauber I lightly sponged around the punched out sentiment oval. Using a Paper Piercing Tool, I hand pierced around the edge of the sentiment oval. I glued the sentiment oval in place, and then using my Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch Kit, I punched a hole to accommodate a We R Memory Keepers Xtra Large White Eyelet. Yellow and white striped satin "Bobbin" ribbon was thread through the Xtra Large Eyelet and around the back of the card and secured. A matching bow was tied to the ribbon strip, and an alpha charm with a KaiserCraft Self-Adhesive "Yellow" Pearl adhered to the middle of the "O", was secured to the ribbon bow using Gold Elastic Cord. The card front was then glued to the 5.5" x 8.5" white cardstock card base.