Welcome to our first Stamper’s Dozen Blog Hop of the 20’s. And, what better way to ring in a new year and a new decade than with a new catalog (with a new name)!

This month’s blog hop is all about the new stuff that graces the pages of the new January-June 2020 Mini Catalog. This is the new name for what we used to call the Occasions catalog.

So, I thought I would play around a little with one of the more masculine bundles in the Mini Catalog. It’s called By the Dock.

Here is what I made for you… I hope it inspires you!

This first card is just paper and ink. I used Basic Gray for the base and added a layer of Smoky Slate. I used Basic Gray ink on Whisper White paper for the images. Pretty quick and simple yet very beautiful. Proof that great cards don’t have to be intricate!

For this card, I used Night of Navy as the base, added a Crumb Cake layer that I embossed using the Pinewood Planks 3D embossing folder. I used the Stitched Rectangle dies to cut out a Merry Merlot layer and the Very Vanilla layer. I stamped the images on the Vanilla layer with Early Espresso ink. Finally, I used the larger circle from the Stitched Labels dies to cut the sentiment layer out of Very Vanilla. I stamped the sentiment in Merry Merlot ink and wove some of the Night of Navy/Sahara Sand Baker’s Twine though the holes.

This card did not have much stamping on it other than the sentiment. For the base, I used Early Espresso. Then I created a layer with Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla. I used the Oar dies from the Dockside dies to cut out 8 oars from Crumb Cake cardstock. Don’t you just love the wood grain that is embossed as they are cut. I stamped the sentiment in Early Espresso ink.

Now, are you asking yourself, “How hard was it to line up those fiddly little oars?” Well, actually, it was pretty easy!

I used a piece of well-loved grid paper to line them up on the lines. Then, I had to figure out how to get these perfectly lined up oars onto the Very Vanilla layer without losing the spacing…

Then I thought… WASHI TAPE! I always keep old, retired tape laying around just for instance like these. I pulled out a length of tape out, gently stuck it to the row of oar, being sure to press down so they would stay stuck. Then, I used the tape to lift up the oars and flip them over. I applied a bit of Tombow Multi-purpose glue to the backs and flipped them over and positioned on the card. After pressing them down so they adhere to the layer, I carefully pulled off the tape. Since I never ripped the tape from the roll, I just wound it back up to be used again later.

And, here is my final card for you using this bundle.

This card started with a Crumb Cake base. I added a Night of Navy layer and a Whisper White layer. Before I adhered the white layer to the navy layer, I stamped the images on it along with the sentiment. First, I used Mossy Meadow and a sponge for the bushes. I loved the way the sponge left the texture. It was just perfect. For the sky, I sponged Balmy Blue ink… the sponge left cloud-like texture there. Then, I used Pool Party to sponge the water. For some reason, by sponge didn’t leave the texture in the water which was just great, because I didn’t really want it there. Maybe it was because that sponge had been used a lot more.

I stamped an additional dock image, along with a boat, a couple birds and a frog, onto a small piece of Whisper White. I used several different blends to color them before I cut them out using the Dockside dies. The dock was done with Dark Daffodil Delight, Light and Dark Pumpkin Pie, Dark Crumb Cake, Light Basic Gray, and Bronze. For the boat, I used Light and Dark Crumb Cake and Bronze. The frog is Dark Daffodil Delight and Light Old Olive. I used a little Dark Daffodil on the bird’s beak. Then, to make these blend in, I used the Pool Party sponge to add color around the die cut images. This took car of that white border that would have stuck out like a sore thumb on the sponged background.

Well, I hope that you were inspired by what you have seen on my blog today. Hop along to see what the others have created just for you!

Stamper’s Dozen January 2020 Blog Hop

1. Patty Chenail – Stamp-Patty’s – Stamping in My Flops
2. Judy Garza – Creativity Released
3. Sharon Hashimoto Burkert – As the Ink Dries
4. Carol Payne – Carol Payne Stamps
5. Joanne Cantrell – Keep It Simple, Stampers
6. Rachel Yurkanin – Stamping with Rachel
7. Debbie Naylor – Unfrogettable Stamping
8. Bonnie O’Neill – Bonnie Stamped
9. Kelly Acheson – A Stamp Above
10. Laura Milligan – I’d Rather BEE Stampin’
11. BJ Peters – StampinBJ

Until next time… keep it simple, Stampers!

🙂 Joanne