Hello Bluebird June Release Preview Day 1 Strawberry Jam

Hello Bluebird friends, and welcome to my front porch and day one of the June 2019 release previews.   For the next four days I'll be featuring some of the cutest storybook stamp sets ever!

The Hello Bluebird Summer Release features six stamp sets, companion dies, and stand alone dies.

Todays card sample features the new, Strawberry Jam stamp set.  The set has a companion die set which is a wonderful asset when creating little scenes like this one.   Tip:  The smaller stamps also make lovely embossed or watercolored backgrounds, or compliment a singular larger stamp for a striking CAS card.  Once colored and die cut move your elements around and try a layout that fits your style!

How do you begin when creating a card?   I began by stamping and coloring all the stamps on Neenah 110 lb Solar White card stock and coloring the pieces with Copic markers and some Polychromous colored pencils for additional depth.   With the companion die set, I cut out all the colored pieces and set them aside.   Then I began working on the layout by using the new Gallery Frame #4 which provides a nice pinked edge frame as-well-as a small plain inside frame that you can use for later if you wish.  It also includes some sweet tags - what a bonus!

The big surprise for this set is the additional stand alone die, Strawberry Jam Part B, which cuts a shaped outline of the strawberry vines.   After die-cutting I sponged around the edges with Ranger Distress ink in Scattered Straw and set it aside to dry. 

On a second piece of card stock I started working on the background picnic scene.   I used Ranger Distress ink to sponge some clouds in a pale pink, and green to ground the characters.   Then I began arranging the colored characters and additional pieces I had die-cut earlier.   Happy with the placement, I adhered the pieces with both Tonic glue and dimensional tape.    I then adhered the panel that was die-cut with the Strawberry Jam Part B die with some soft fun foam over my picnic scene.

Time to adhere the pinked edge frame which includes my stamped sentiment from the Strawberry Jam set.   Additional lift is achieved with dimensional tape on the back of the frame and carefully placed on top of the Strawberry Jam cut-out panel.   I now have my background scene with characters, the Strawberry Jam cut-out on top of that, and the frame as my border.   To finish this card I placed both left and right strawberry vines on the frame using the Strawberry Jam Part B cut out as my guide.  I used Tonic glue where the leaves touched the frame, and dimensional dots under the berries where needed.   Some Sour Apple Tonic Nuvo drops are all I need to bring this project to a close.

I'd like to invite you to hop over to the Hello Bluebird Blog for a chance to win a $50 dollar gift certificate.   Just leave a comment on their blog on Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3   Winners will be announced prior to the release on Wednesday, June 26th

Thank you so much for visiting today.   I'll see you tomorrow with another sample card from this adorable release!

Hello Bluebird | Preview Day 1 |Fairy Garden

Fairy Garden and Garden Friends

The soft stars are shinning,

The moon is alight;

The folk of the forest

Are dancing tonight...

~ Katherine Davis

1892 - 1980

Hello Bluebird friends!   Welcome to my front porch, and to the first day of previews for the new April release.  I will be sharing a new card with you for the next four days which will culminate on release night, April 16th at 7:00pm MST, when the release goes live on the Hello Bluebird Stamps website.

Come sit with me a while -- let's have a glass of sweet tea and I'll show you what's new this month.

Living in the coastal low country of South Carolina adds to the magical illustration of these new release stamp sets, Fairy Garden and Garden Friends.   Each time I take my camera to the beautiful gardens of Middleton and Magnolia, or our own garden, I am transported to a land of make believe.  Where fairies gather under the moonlight to play with woodland friends, ring the bells of lavender blue, and cast their spells of twinkling dust, and dance in the light of the sliv'ry moon!

The Fairy Garden set includes seventeen images plus two sentiments.  Garden Friends includes thirteen images and three sentiments - that's what I call value added!   Coordinating dies are also available.  I have used two little images (the red violet single flower and the firefly) from the Garden Friends set to compliment my Fairy Garden scene.  The Garden Friends set is scaled to compliment the Fairy Garden set.   Imagine how many sweet scenes you can create with these sets!

I started this design by ink blending the background around a masked circle (for the moon) using Ranger Distress Inks in a blue/blue violet color palette.   When I finished I lightly slid the edge of the sponge across the moon several times to give the appearance of wispy clouds.   All the images were die-cut with coordinating dies and colored with Copic markers.  I kept a blue/blue violet and yellow palette for my little fairy's dress.   And here's a little tip:  when I color a face I always used just a little V20 Copic right under the hairline - try it next time you color and see if you don't like it too.   A wink of stella, some white gel pen, and flat clear sequins were used to finish the card.   The finished panel was mounted using fun foam onto the card base.

I hope you've enjoyed our time together as we took our first look at this adorable stamp set from Hello Bluebird Stamps.   Tomorrow we'll soar into the wild blue yonder!   Be sure to check out all of the Design Team cards on Instagram as we feature, Fairy Garden and Garden Friends.  As always it's a pleasure to have you visit today.