halfsies oval

Good morning and welcome to the first day of product Meet & Greets for our autumn Get Cozy, Get Crafty collection! Let’s meet today’s products, and then read on for how you can “greet” these new products for a chance to win! We also have several members of our new Inspiration Team here to share projects in a fun blog hop!

All of the new products being shown today as part of our Autumn Get Cozy, Get Crafty collection will be available for purchase in The Shop beginning at 10am EDT on Friday, August 23.

There are two new sets being showcased today, so let’s get to it!

Autumn Sketches Stamps & Dies

You loved the versatility of the Summer Sketches set, and I’m excited to bring you an autumn version! Autumn Sketches is a lovely leafy set that’s filled with possibilities. Layer the solid and outline images for a pretty, yet carefree look, or use them independently. The outline can be used alone and colored with your favorite medium, or to create quick and easy backgrounds. When layering the outline over the solid, consider heat embossing the outline with metallic embossing powder for a touch of elegance. Sentiments included are “so thankful” and “for you”.
Approximate sizes:
assembled leafy branch – 4″ x 2.4″
berry cluster – 1.2″ x .7″
larger single leaf – 1″ x 1″
smaller single leaf – 1″ x .5″

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Cotton Comforts Stamps & Dies

Get comfy in your craft room with the beautiful Cotton Comforts set! Cotton has been a trend in the home decor world for the past few years, and now it’s coming to your craft room. Cotton Comforts features gorgeous cotton branches in two sizes. These images were taken directly from watercolored artwork, and you’ll love how they come to life with through layered stamps and ink. There are several mix and match sentiments included in the set as well, making this set useful for creating cards and projects for many different occasions, including sympathy, hello, and get well. Mix and match sentiments include: “comfort” and “sending” (both in a larger script font), “caring thoughts”, “well wishes”, “may you find”, “& peace”, “a warm hello” (all in a smaller text font).
Approximate sizes:
large branch – 1.9″ x 4.7″
small branch – 1.1″ x 2.5″
“sending” sentiment – 1.6″ x .8″
“comfort” sentiment – 1.5″ x .8″
“a warm hello” sentiment – 1.25″ x .25″

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Halfsies Oval & Diamond Dies

Great projects start with great basics! At half the size of an A2 card, the Halfsies dies are twice the fun! Place two diecuts side-by-side to cover a card front and create the perfect place to build a focal point. The included notched banner can be added as a fun accent. Use just a single diecut to create a pocket or pull-out. You’ll enjoy having these versatile dies in your collection! 

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To aid in your list-making and planning, below you will find the prices for today’s products.

• Autumn Sketches 4″ x 8″ stamp set – $18
• Autumn Sketches Die – $14
• Cotton Comforts 6″ x 8″ stamp set – $24
• Cotton Comforts die – $21
• Halfsies Oval die – $15
• Halfsies Diamond die – $15

I mentioned during the Sneak Peeks that we were making a few changes starting with our new August products. Moving forward, all multi-step or layered sets will come with a printed, full-color stamping guide! You can store these with your sets to use as a handy reference. The QR codes for these sets will be printed right onto the guide, so you can scan it with your phone or tablet and go straight to the lookbook page for instant inspiration!

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*Note: these printed guides will not come with sets released prior to our August release – those stamping guides can be found and printed from their product pages in the shop.

Now for the fun part! Let’s see some projects using these new sets!

My first group of projects are a couple of cards done in neutrals using the Cotton Comforts set. I’m usually all in for color, but I love how soft and pretty these turned out! On the white and gray card I used the Crimped Frame dies, and on the other I used the new Halfsies Diamond die. I love the way that die looks…so fresh and crisp with the pierced border. Notice the knit pattern detail? That’s a fun stencil set that you’ll be seeing more of later this week.

My next card is a soft and pretty sympathy card. I gave the cotton branches just a hint of pink here. I thought this would also make a very sweet baby card by changing the sentiment. I tucked in a few sprigs of Eucalyptus from our Simple Things set. The oval frame was done of course with the new Halfsies Oval die. I sponged it with soft pink ink, and added some gold splatters. The sentiment is also from Cotton Comforts, cut with the matching die.

Who says all of these cotton-y projects have to be done in neutral shades? For this next card, I went crazy with color, and the cotton branches give the eye the perfect resting place with their pretty white blooms. I started by watercoloring a panel of watercolor paper in shades of orange and teal. Then I layered our Just Mason Around jar and snipped apart one of the Blooming Branches, stamped in pretty, vibrant autumn shades. I cut the bottom part of the stem off of the large cotton branch and layered it over the top, allowing it to hang over the top of the jar. The sentiment I used here is from a set that you’ll see more of tomorrow!

Before we move on to some Autumn Sketches projects, I thought I would share some ink suggestions for the Cotton Comforts set. I like to use a stamp positioning tool and my small finger sponges to apply the ink to the stamps, rather than inking directly from the pad to the stamp. This allows you to build up the intensity of the color, or achieve a softer color, and also to use the same color for more than one layer.

For this card with the pinkish hue I used Tattered Rose for both steps of the cotton, and the other two colors for the branches.

For this one, I actually skipped stamping the solid portion of the cotton, and just stamped the shading, using Antique Linen. This gives you nice white cotton with just a bit of subtle shading.

For this one I used the Antique Linen for the solid step of the cotton, and then added just a light layer of Frayed Burlap for the shading.

Next I have several projects using the Autumn Sketches set. I loved using the Summer Sketches set, and this one is just as fun!

My first set of cards uses just the outlines from the set, along with some watercoloring. For the card with the large branch, I stamped it in black ink and then did some loose watercolor. I also added some wet-on-wet subtle color to the background. I almost quit on this card half-way through because I just did not like the way it was turning out, but I kept going and it turns out that it just quite finished yet! I layered more color over the leaves, and then it started coming together. When I was finished watercoloring, I embossed a few branches around the edge using gold embossing powder. For the leafy frame card, I stamped the elements around the outer edge, and then did some no-line watercoloring. I added some shadows around the images with some Payne’s Gray watercolor, which really made them pop! The sentiments used here are from sets that will be shown later this week.

For this card, I used the Halfsies Diamond die to create a “pocket” to tuck the leaves and berries from the Autumn Sketches set. I stamped them in shades of yellow, green, and pink for a softer take on autumn. Behind the Halfsies Diamond diecut is the largest Crimped Frame die from the set. The sentiment here is from the Cotton Comforts set.

This next card is done in shades of blue and purple…I love using those for autumn! I put two of the large branches from the Autumn Sketches set, and then also tucked in a few of the berry sprigs from the set. I used Seedless Preserves and Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide inks to stamp these. I layered the outline image over the branch, and heat embossed it with gold. The background was done using a large flat brush and just lightly brushing some shades of blue and purple watercolor. The sentiment is from a new Sentiment Suite set that you’ll see more of this week as well!

My last card uses the Autumn Sketches once again, paired with our Crimped Frames die. Just a pretty autumn card. The outline image from the set is just perfect for creating pretty backgrounds and tone-on-tone prints, like the frame and envelope flap. The sentiment I used here is from the Autumn Sketches set.

Now that you’ve gotten to meet all of today’s new products, you can “greet” them for a chance to win a $50 gift card! Read on for details…

• Comment here on the blog for one entry (one comment per person)
• Comment on our Inspiration Teams’ blogs for more entries (one comment per person, per blog)
• Comments close at Midnight on Thursday, August 22
• Winners will be posted at 7am ET on Friday, August 23 here on the blog

You won’t want to miss what the Inspiration Team has for you today! I’m pretty sure you’ll be inspired as you hop around to their blogs!
(click on the images to visit their blogs, or click HERE if viewing this post via email)

Thank you for visiting today and for sharing in our excitement for our new collection! We’ll be back tomorrow for another day of product reveals and projects!