Hey, crafty friends! Happy Release Day! I hope you enjoyed all of the inspiration here on the blog yesterday! I loved reading all of the comments to see what your favorite products are! As I mentioned yesterday, I hate waiting (and I hate to make you wait!) so all of the new products you saw yesterday are available RIGHT NOW! Plus, as promised, I’ll even be making the wishes of three lucky winners come true so check down below to see if you’re one of them!

Before you head over to the store, I want to make sure you know about our special, limited time offer for the February Release:

Purchase the Hop to It bundle and receive 15% off the three items included! The Hop to It collection includes the Hop to It Background stamp, the coordinating Hop to It die, and the Mini Strips – Easter stamp. This offer is valid Tuesday, February 18th – Sunday, February 23rd.

Keep scrolling for more inspiration or head over to the store to start your cart!

Even though the release of products happens today, the Creative Team and I will continue sharing inspiration through the rest of this week! Here’s an ‘at-a-glance’ look at the February Release:

• This release includes over 30 new products including stamps, dies, stencils, a new Masking Stencil designs, a new Bits & Pieces embellishment, and the new Simple Strips Stacks!
• Everything is available at the TE webstore RIGHT NOW! Being able to order early in the week means that many of you will have your goodies before the weekend!
• Each day (Monday – Thursday) features a new how-to tip, technique, or process video.

For my video today I’ll be showing how you can use the same background stamp to achieve two completely different cards. I’ll be sharing my tips and tricks for blending colored pencils with gamsol. And for those of you who don’t love to color, there are simple techniques that you can do with this stamp that don’t involve a ton of coloring time!

Here’s a closer look at the products that I used for my projects today:

The Botanical Beauty Background stamp fills up your card front with a whole border of beautiful flowers. The intricately detailed flowers stamp perfectly with the help of our high-quality red rubber stamps. You can also trim along the top edge of the flowers using the coordinating Botanical Beauty Edger die.

I also used the latest addition to the Simple Strips collection on both of these projects. The Simple Strips – Sympathy stamp includes 18 sentiments to express condolences and offer love, support, and encouragement during a difficult time.

For the first card, I started by applying the large rectangle masking stencil over Sugar Cube cardstock using the etched alignment guides to center the stencil. I blended the open space with four ink colors; Pineapple, Candy Corn, Guava, and Blue Corn. I just love the purple you see where the Guava and Blue Corn overlap! After blending within the open space, I kept the stencil in place and stamped the Botanical Beauty background over the top with Oreo ink. I finished it off with a sentiment strip. Can’t you see this card in so many color combinations?

For the second project, I grabbed my colored pencils and gamsol to color in the images. I love the ease of blending and shading with colored pencils and gamsol! And I’ve put together my favorite products for this technique in our Gamsol Kit. It includes everything you need to get started with this simple coloring medium (except the colored pencils!).

Alright, now on to some more inspiration from our talented Creative Team!

Jill Hawkins shows us that the Botanical Beauty background also works great with liquid watercolor. After embossing the image onto watercolor paper, she added calming shades of liquid watercolor in various yellows, blues, and greens. Add a die cut sentiment from the Handlettered Sympathy stamp set and this stunning sympathy card is finished.

Melody Rupple paired the Big Blooms – Daffodils with our previously released Lattice Frame Cutting Plate on this gorgeous card. It’s a perfect pair that reminds me of a spring garden!

Melody also created this beautiful meadow of silhouette stems using the Spring Stems stamp set and coordinating dies. By varying the length of the flowers, she was able to create a more realistic looking scene. And she used the new Simple Strips Backer die to create a gold layer for her Simple Strips sentiment.

Gayatri Murali also gathered the blooms from the Spring Stems stamp set into colorful arrangements to adorn the corners of her card. The sentiments she used are from the Mini Strips – Easter stamp.

Jill Hawkins stamped the beautiful silhouettes over a blended background on this sympathy card. She added the ‘in loving memory’ sentiment and die cut the entire panel with the Petite Scallop Rectangle Stacklets die.

And now it’s time to check in with the lucky winners! If you find your name and comment listed below, please contact us with your mailing address and your selected ‘favorite product’ (must be one product, sorry… not a bundle) and we’ll get your prize in the mail right away! Congrats to all the prize winners!

Make sure you check out the projects created with today’s featured products from our TE Creative Team and a special guest! I’ll see you back here tomorrow with more inspiration!