Introducing Made of Snow

It’s finally here!  (insert me jumping up and down excitedly!)  The beginning of a two-month long holiday blitz!  We have been preparing for both the September & October releases for MONTHS and it is just such an amazing feeling to be able to start sharing some of our big plans with you!   

First up is Made of Snow!  I spent a lot of time designing this set to make it fun & easy to use paired with amazing versatility.  It includes a total of 32 images for $24.  This build-your-own snowman set is ans easy as 1-2-3…

(well-okay 5, but who’s counting!)

First, you need to select a body to begin building from.  There are two bodies to choose from.  One that accommodates a scarf (without any masking!) and one that does not.  I found that in order to gain the most crisp, perfect image from these two particular stamps, the Rock-A-Blocks made a huge difference.  I highly recommend them for success, as they really help with easily applying even pressure with each impression.  Which is really important if you are making multiple projects!  (You can learn more about my thoughts on the Rock-A-Blocks HERE)

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I chose to work with the body that accommodates a scarf, so now I had to select one of the SIX scarf designs included in this set!  (Yep, you read that right!  SIX!!!)  And might I add that there are scarves for both those that like to color & paper piece, and there are scarves that will work great for colored ink applications!

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Next up is the head.  There are four heads total in the set.  One for use without a scarf & hat, without a scarf & with a hat, with a scarf and without a hat (which I have chosen here) and with a scarf & hat.  I think I’ll mention here that the index sheets included with the set have all of these parts labeled for easy organization and usage!  As I mentioned earlier, I chose not to add a hat today, but just for your reference, there are four of them in this set to play with!

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Four faces are included in this set.  And they all have such unique personalities!  If you chose to add a hat, I would suggest adding the hat followed by the face, insuring perfect placement!

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Last up is the arms!  There are three sets to choose form, including a pair that will “hold” objects, like those included in Believe, charms, punched shapes, etc…  Think of all the fun things you could do!  For my project today I decided to work with the mitten arms!  A note for stamping arms on a body with a scarf.  You need to do the tiniest bit of masking.  I just keep tis little piece of post-it note in my case with my stamps now.  It is only a 1/16th of an inch of arm youneed to mask, but it makes such a difference.

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And here is my finished snowman!  Isn’t he just the cutest!

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For as few finishing details, I added a bit of shadow using Copic C1 (Cool Gray No. 1) and colored his nose with YR21 (Cream).  I paper pieced his scarf using Spring Moss cardstock and our new fine-tip silver paint pens, which are being added to the store this month!  The super fine tip makes it perfect for adding little dots of metallic shine as accetns to your favorite images.  They have a fantastic flow and do NO have a felt tip, which makes  it virtually impossible to clog up or dry out. They will be availabel in both silver & gold.  One of my favorite basic tools.  I also added two bitty rhinestones as his “buttons”.  A bit of pink shimmer chalk is brushed on his cheeks to make him look a bit more realistic.

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I did something a little unique with his arms.  I cut a piece of 20 gauge black wire about 2.25 inches long.  I used needle nose pliers to create little loops at either end.  I also stamped the mittens on Spring Moss cardstock, added a bit of color to the cuffs and cut out.

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I was then able to easily and neatly use a mini glue dot to attach the mitten.  It makes for a really secure bond.

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Here is what the front of the arms look like after you have adhered both mittens in place.  To aid in adhering the arms securely to the back of my snowman, I adhered a foam dimensional to the center back of the arms.

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I was then able to flip the arms over and adhere them to the back of the snowman.

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Here is a side view of the arms attached so you can see how fun the dimension is!

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And here is the card I created this fun little guy for!  The scalloped square was created with the largest Nestabilities Square Scalloped die, followed by a run through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  Sometimes I forget that I can expand my options with Nestabilities by trimming one end off or altering them in some other fun way.  The silver ribbon is a new item we will be bringing you as well (more about that tomorrow!)

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I love the way the sentiment accent turned out.  I cut a piece of transparency and stamped my sentiment (from Made with Snow as well) in Noir Palette ink and gave it a very quick heat set.  To adhere it in place, I used a piece of spring moss cardstock that had been circle punched and folded in half as my cover up.  A bullnose clip from Making Memories adorned with a Heidi Swapp bling flower helped carry through my silver accents that I had incorporated thoughout.

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If you’re anything like me, you are always looking for something cute, homemade and quick to do as special little holiday gifts.  Why not some snowballs to go with my snowman?  These snowballs in particular were some White Chocolate Coconut Truffles I whipped up this morning.  SO yummy!  I found that if you google “Snowball Recipes” there are dozens and dozens of options available!  If you wanted to do something even easier, you could fill the medium snow pail with white powdered donut holes or danish wedding cookies!  For the “Snowballs” tag I used the “snow” image from Heather’s new set along with Simple Alphabet to spell out “balls”.

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Here’s the whole ensemble.  I just love the color scheme, the CUTE little snowman, the perfect balance of decorative accents, the nod to frostiness & winter with the rhinestones and clear paint can.  Just such a fun project to create!  I hope you have found some inspiration to use somewhere in your own life today!

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Now playing: Bing Crosby – Winter Wonderland
via FoxyTunes   

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Check out Lauren’s blog to see what she created with Made of Snow!  You won’t want to miss it!

Heather Nichols shows you a thing or two about her new wintry set.

Melissa Bickford has had a bit of fun with her new set that is debuting this month too.

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STAMPS: Made of Snow, Rustic Snowflakes (both being released September 15th), Simple Alphabet
INK: Noir Black Palette
PAPER: Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, Stamper’s Select White
OTHER: transparency from Office Depot, Sheer Silver Metallic Edge ribbon, Swiss Dot Embossing Folder from Provo Craft, Large Standard Square Scalloped Nestabilities dies, ultra-fine silver paint pen from Marvy, Bullnose clip from Making Memories, Flower Bling from Hiedit Swapp, medium clear paint bucket

Card Dimensions: 4 inches high x 4.5 inches wide