Back to COOL with Sweet November Stamps

It’s time to head back to school, and the new First Day digital stamp collection from Sweet November Stamps is filled with adorable images for creating cheerful classroom scenes! The collection includes a variety of sweet students, a teacher, a crossing guard and plenty of school-themed accessories, including desks and lockers.

For my card, I combined Eliza, Kenny, Lainey, Tanner and Mrs. James with the Teacher’s Desk images to create a busy first-day classroom scene. One of my favourite things about working with digital stamps is being able to resize, arrange and layer the images until the scene looks exactly the way I imagined.

Once everything was printed, I coloured the entire scene with a rainbow of Copic Markers. I had so much fun choosing different colours for each child’s clothing, backpack and shoes. All those bright details give every student their own personality and capture the excitement of arriving at school for a brand-new year.

I kept the classroom background simple so the colourful characters would remain the focus, adding a soft green chalkboard wall, a neutral floor and a few subtle shadows beneath everyone’s feet. The playful “Back to COOL!” greeting was the perfect finishing touch for this happy school scene.

The new First Day collection offers so many possibilities for back-to-school cards, teacher appreciation projects, lunchbox notes and scrapbook pages. I can’t wait to create even more school adventures with these adorable characters!

Happy Saturday all!

~ Ally ~ 

Merry and Bright in Non-Traditional Holiday Colors

Today I’m sharing another festive card featuring products from the Catherine Pooler Designs and Sizzix collaboration. For this design, I stepped away from traditional holiday reds and greens and created a soft, modern woodland scene using warm peach and vibrant pink tones.

I began by securing the Star on Top layered stencils in the Print & Pattern Tool. For the first stencil layer, I softly blended Clay Mask ink over the trees and added a light layer of Pucker Up ink toward the treetops. I repeated the same color combination with the second stencil layer, using a heavier hand to deepen the shades and bring definition to the overlapping trees.

To coordinate the greeting with the background, I created a separate ink-blended swatch using the same Clay Mask and Pucker Up combination. I then die cut the large “Merry” greeting using the new Oh So Merry Dies. I love how the blended cardstock carries the color palette into the sentiment while the playful lettering adds a bold focal point.

To complete the greeting, I stamped “and bright” from the Warm Winter Wishes Sentiments stamp set and added it on a slim banner beside the die-cut word. A splattering of Pearl Shimmer across the background added the perfect finishing touch of snowy sparkle.

I absolutely love the cheerful, non-traditional colors on this holiday card. The combination of peach, pink and shimmer gives the winter trees such a warm and whimsical feel!

You can find these products in the Catherine Pooler shop!

~ Ally ~ 

Warm Winter Wishes with CP & Sizzix

Today I’m sharing a cool and cozy winter card featuring the “Around the Holiday” stamp set from the Catherine Pooler Designs and Sizzix collaboration. This playful set includes a variety of graphic holiday images that work together beautifully to create a bold, repeating pattern.

I used the Print & Pattern Tool to line up and stamp the images across a piece of white cardstock. The tool made it easy to build the pattern evenly while alternating the different squares. For a soft tone-on-tone winter palette, I stamped the images using Glacier and Stone Blue inks. I love how the two shades add subtle variation while keeping the background cohesive and frosty.

Once the patterned panel was complete, I layered it onto a narrow piece of dark navy cardstock and adhered it to a Stone Blue cardstock card base. The simple layers help frame the stamped design and add a little extra contrast.

For the greeting, I selected the beautiful “Warm Winter Wishes” sentiment from the “Warm Winter Wishes Sentiments” stamp set. I stamped it in dark blue ink, die cut it into a circle and popped it up over the bottom corner of the patterned panel.

This card was so much fun to create, and the Print & Pattern Tool made building the repeating design quick and easy. The “Around the Holiday” stamp set is perfect for creating winter cards, holiday backgrounds, tags and so much more!

The new CP and Sizzix products are available now in the CP Shop!

~ Ally ~ 

 

A Glamorous Christmas on Ice

Hello, crafty friends! Today I’m sharing another festive project from the new Catherine Pooler Designs and Sizzix collaboration. This card features the fabulous new “On Ice” Die Set, which includes a beautiful ice skate along with poinsettias, greenery and other seasonal embellishments.

I began with a bold Glam cardstock card base—the rich purple shade creates such a striking backdrop for the crisp white skate. I added a black sole, a shiny silver blade and bright Rockin’ Red laces to give the skate plenty of dimension and personality.

To create the festive floral clusters, I die-cut the poinsettias and greenery from Melon Ice, Martini, Sixteen Candles, Rockin’ Red and Sage cardstocks. I love how these vibrant Catherine Pooler colors give the traditional Christmas florals a fresh and playful look. The flowers and leaves were tucked around the skate to create movement while keeping the skate as the main focal point.

For the finishing touch, I selected the “Merry Christmas” greeting from the new “Warm Winter Wishes Sentiments” Stamp Set. I heat embossed it with white embossing powder directly onto the Glam background, creating a clean and elegant sentiment that coordinates beautifully with the white skate.

The “On Ice” Die Set is perfect for winter birthdays, Christmas cards, skating-themed projects and so much more. This colorful skate is ready to glide straight into the holiday season!

~ Ally ~