Good morning! I can’t believe we’ve made it to the first day of sneak peeks again! I’m still trying to let it sink in that yesterday marked the start of April. Perhaps you’d think I was pulling an April Fool’s joke on you if I told you that it was 87 degrees here yesterday. AMAZING! As we’ve been soaking up the sun during March and I’ve been wondering if we’re going to pay for all this gorgeous weather with a scorching hot and humid summer! Anyways, enough about the weather…let’s get to the goodies! We have another release packed full of everything from cutesy to elegant! We’re putting special emphasis on Mother’s Day so you can start thinking about the projects you’ll create for the mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and friends who have touched your life! All of the new products the Baker’s Dozen and I are showcasing will be available for purchase on Thursday, April 5th at 8am PST! I have a lot to show you today so I better get started!

My first project, a set of simple notecards, uses the fabulous Fruity Friends. This adorable stamp set of smiling fruits was concepted by Wanda Guess and illustrated by Emily Burger for the Embracing Grace collection. When Wanda presented this idea to me I fell in love immediately! Who wouldn’t be smitten by smiling fruits and punny sentiments!? I kept my cards pretty simple by stamping the images in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloring them with Copics. Here’s a list of the Copics I used for each fruit:

Peach: YR21, YR14, YR18
Strawberry: R24, R27, R39, YG11, YG13, YG17
Watermelon: same as strawberry
Apple: YG11, YG13, YG17, E55

The patterned paper is from the Happy Go Lucky collection. It works perfectly with this stamp set because all the fruity colors are represented in the bright and cute patterns! My simple cards just scratch the surface of possibilities with this set and I see myself having lots of fun with it in the future!

My second project uses two new products, the gorgeous Make it Amazing stamp set illustrated by Nancy McKinney and the Floral Vine Shadowbox Card Kit! The stamp set includes beautiful silhouette images of butterflies and flora. And when you pair it with one of our three new shadowbox card kits you have a quick and beautiful Mother’s Day card that looks like you spent hours! Below is a look at the Shadowbox Card Kit contents.

These have been a really popular item in the past and I’m excited to offer them again in new patterns and combinations! You can find the video on how to assemble them HERE. Before beginning to assemble the shadowbox you’ll want to stamp the pieces with your scene. I used Rose Coral, Rich Cocoa, Olive Pastel, Cantaloupe, and Versamagic Sea Mist to ink the various images in the stamp set. There are also three new dies/die sets that coordinate with the stamp images in Make it Amazing:

Each Shadowbox Card Kit includes one yard of coordinating ribbon and a Fancy Buckle (already die cut from our new set of Fancy Buckle dies) so that you can tie the shadowbox closed once you’re finished stamping and embellishing (as pictured above). And here’s a look at the new set of Fancy Buckles. Aren’t they pretty!? They’ll be the perfect embellishment for your ribbon! Some make a beautifully dainty accent while others are more substantial and could serve as more of a focal point on your projects. I have loved playing with them so far and I know I’ll be keeping them at the front of my die collection for much more use on future projects!

And last on the list for today, I want to share our latest Project Pantry Kit… Pink Paislee London Market (perfect for Mother’s Day!). The idea behind the Project Pantry is that when you want to bake a dessert you head to your pantry for the ingredients.  Well, when you want to create card, you can head to our Project Pantry for all the coordinating elements. I’ve  found that some of the best cake and cookie recipes are those based around a basic batter or dough recipe with lots of options to spice it up according to your tastes.  So we have our Basic Recipe Kit along with optional Spice It Up Ingredients that you can pick and choose from to build the kit just the way you want it!

Pink Paislee London Market 6×6 Paper Pack
12 sheets of 8.5″ x 11″ cardstock (2 sheets each of 5 different colors)
5 yards of ribbon (1 yard each of 5 different styles)

We have a special offer to go along with our Project Pantry kit this month which brings me to my last project! When you purchase the London Market Project Pantry and any full-size stamp set (new or previously released) you’ll receive the Mom A la Carte FREE! The A la Carte stamp will be automatically shipped to you if these two items are on your order. I wanted to show you how well the A la Carte coordinates with the patterned paper. I started by stamping the image in Memento Rich Cocoa Ink. I colored the saucer, coffee, and cocoa with Copic markers and paper pieced the remainder of the elements. I added Glossy Accents to the M’s and Crystal Stickles to the heart. I cut the image out with Spellbinders Labels 4 and airbrushed inside the die line with Copic marker. The layout is from Jen’s Deconstructed Sketch #14. To finish it off I used ribbon/ric rac from the kit, a Prima Coral Fairytale Rose, and one of the Fancy Buckles through the ribbon and underneath the rose. Shabby chic is not my usual style, but this kit made it easy to try something new and I love how it turned out!

I can bet you don’t want to miss the beautiful projects from the Baker’s Dozen so check ’em out at the links below. Hope you have a wonderful day and we’ll see you back here tomorrow morning for more sneak peeks!