Ink to Paper October Release Countdown Day 1

It's time for the October Ink to Paper release countdown! This week will be filled with all things Christmas, winter, and even a touch of fall, if you still haven't gotten your fill! This release will be available for purchase on October 15th at 10 PM ET. There's so much to share today that I am super excited about, so get comfy and let's get started! 

First up is THE cutest new Christmas mug set called "Festive Mugs" with it's coordinating dies! I used one of the single mug images, but there is a super cute stacked die that allows you to have three of the mugs stacked up together. I wanted to fill my mug with a pair of candy canes and holiday sprigs and berries, so I just chose to use the single enamelware mug.

I used the fun new Corner It: Holly Stamp set and coordinating dies for the details in the upper left corner. This is another reason why I only chose to use one mug so that I could have fun dressing up this corner! The holly berries, leaves and little flowers really add to the holiday charm!

Let's talk about the candy canes for just a minute. I absolutely adore these canes in particular because they have a solid stamp as well as the striped image so you can make candy canes in two colors if you'd like. I chose to make Sweet Blush and Pure Poppy candy canes and I just love them. I can't wait to make even more in fun combinations! I'm a little obsessed with cute candy canes and I'm always on the hunt for certain ones that will accent my holiday gift giving in just the right way! Am I weird or does any one else do this?

The "Merry and Bright" sentiment is heat embossed onto the mug using white powder and is included in the Festive Mugs stamp set.  The "Wishing you a joyous Christmas" is from the Corner It: Holly stamp set. I added a Skinny Diagonals Frame in Pure Poppy dusted with a bit of glitter. I layered the entire focal panel onto a top folding New Leaf card base using foam squares.

My next three cards feature the super fun new Home Door Decor stamp and dies paired with the new Woodwork dies. These are SO much fun to use for your backgrounds to create a realistic looking wooden house and I've also used them in some other ways on the next two cards.

Let me just say how much I would love living in a pink house with a Pure Poppy door during Christmastime! ha ha! This entry way is just begging for me to go inside and see what holiday delights are waiting!

I couldn't resist adding a few of my leftover candy canes from my first card. I only wish that there were two going in different directions, but I just love how these urns look all planted with holiday greenery and dressed up with candy canes and bows! I'm just slightly obsessed with these bows as you will see on my next few cards and others throughout the release! They are so cute and make the sweetest little addition to holiday projects.

There are two different wreaths included in this new set. I chose to use the fir wreath for this first card, but used the other one on the next two cards. I added some red Nuvo drops to the wreath for some "berries". The stamp set includes some circle images that can be used as ornaments and baubles to decorate the wreaths as well.

I slightly overlapped the Woodwork die cuts to make the house look a little bit more realistic with some ink shading at the bottom for added detail and depth. The sentiment is heat embossed in black and accented with a few extra fir sprigs I had leftover from my first card.

I keep a trivet dish on the corner of my desk while I am creating to put all of the stamped images into and then I have them nearby to add to different projects! I added a good sprinkling of glitter to the top of the door frame {notice the cute 25 stamped in red} as well as on the candy canes and greenery. 

The finishing touch is the stamped greeting on the inside using the new Inside Greetings: Season's Greetings and another bow, of course!

This next card is more CAS, but I really like the simplicity that allows you to focus on the sentiment. This is another one from the new Inside Greetings: Season's Greetings and is stamped in Weathervane.

I had a few extra pieces of the pink Woodwork die cuts, so I thought it would make a cute hanging sign to showcase the different wreaths. I also added the star, which is another fun image included in the set. 

I cut the focal panel a little bit smaller than I normally do so that I could have a nice border from the Soft Stone card base. I added some Weathervane ink splatter as well for added detail.

And more bows, of course! I chose to put them at the bottom of the wreaths for a different look. I actually put the ribbon at the bottom of my wreaths that I use on my doors and around the house.

My final card uses all of the bows, wreaths and stars as fun background elements to create some fun visual movement. I also used the larger of the Woodwork dies that work well for your horizontal cards. I forgot to mention that earlier; the pink ones that I used on the first two cards work for vertical A2 cards and there are two that work for horizontal A2 cards, like I've shown here.

This background was created with 5 Soft Stone Woodwork die cuts with Weathervane ink blended around the bottom of each slat. I overlapped these as well for a shingled look.

I stamped the "home sweet home for the holidays" sentiment in black onto a Banner cut from Weathervane cardstock. I popped it up and then had fun adding all of the different stamped images.

My goal was to create a visual triangle with each of the different colors that I used to keep this busy background looking pleasing to the eye. I used the elements at different angles to create visual movement as well.

I really tried to showcase a few different ways to use this set rather than its intended design. I like to get the most bang for my buck when purchasing stamp sets, so this was fun to give some other ideas! I DO want to make some tags using the door, folded in half so they can be opened to reveal a greeting as well as the to: from: portion. I made some door tags using an older set a few years ago and they were some of my favorite tags that year! Join me again tomorrow for day 2 of the countdown! Thanks for fluttering by!