Welcome April! New Stamps! New Sale!

Welcome to this Blog Hope day for Technique Junkie stamps!  Please view every Design Team member's blog.  We start at the beginning -- http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com/ .

I love April!  The weather is warmer, the promise of summer is whispering, "I am coming. Hold tight - I will be there before you know it!"  But as I write this winter is trying to hold on tight!   While the temperature was nice (about 59 degrees) the winds were high and it felt so cold.

And so today is April 1, But this is NOT an April's Day joke. Today we have a blog hop to showcase the new April Releases for Technique Junkie Stamps!  And there is a 15% off sale on these stamps until April 8!  So be sure to join us on the hop and  want to buy, and then place your order! This sale is not an April Fool's Day joke -- it is for REAL!!!

I must indulge in a bit of nostalgia for a moment.  I taught school for 27 years before retiring. Most of those those years were in first grade.  Every year on April 1 I used  felt figures I had drawn and cut out to tell an April Fool's poem.  After we had practiced it a bit, my class would go around the school to the main office, to the business office, to the cafeteria, to the nurse, and well anywhere we were allowed to come and share our April Fool's Day poem.  And this was the poem.

APRIL FOOL!

Little bears have three feet,

Little birds have four.

Little cows have two feet,

And girls and boys have more.

Do you believe my story?

Do you believe my song?

I'll tell it only once a year,

When April comes along.

APRIL FOOL!

And now back to business!   I also love getting new stamps!  I really enjoy visiting different stamp stores when I travel.  I always wonder what do they have that I must have?  And it is always exciting  when I get a package in the mail from Pat Huntoon.  It means new stamps!  Sometimes it is stamps I chose and ordered and paid for. And sometimes it is stamps that Pat has selected for me to have.  I know of no stamp company where the designers get to choose what stamps they sent.  Did you know that? But it is always exciting to see what stamps I will receive!  Often, when I see a new stamp, I immediately have an  idea of what I should do with this stamp.  Sometimes, I have to ponder it a bit more.  But these kinds of things challenge us as stampers, and that is a good thing.

And now -- back to stamps and cards.  That is the main thing on my blog hop today!

So here is my first card for this Blog Hop  -- I will have four!

Sometimes a subtle background for your card elements is what is needed.  That is what I decided for this card.  A strip of music notes background paper over some pale tan/gray background paper with music themes is what I chose.   I colored my musician with my Copic markers including  his saxophone.  This musician stamp is an April release Technique Junkie stamp called  The Saxophonist

. Then I used the Technique Junkie stamp called Free My Soul http://techniquejunkies.com/free-my-soul/ for the verse.   You may remember that this stamp has a guitar on the left hand side.  But layering my musician over the guitar to show the verse works just fine.   And I think the verse goes very well with the jazz guy just fine.

 Then I have this lovely rose stamp that is an April Release Technique Junkie stamp called  Stylized Roses.    .   I love this stamp.  As soon as I saw it I immediately thought of the Technique Junkie technique called Smooch Direct from the October/November newsletter.  So I applied my Smooch paints directly to the rubber of the stamp. (Be sure to clean your stamp right away.) I layered it and used background paper that I felt tied it all together. The background paper had the pink over the vintage newspaper look.  It is not a stamp.  I used a pearl in the bottom corner, and "antiqued" it with a Copic marker.

I had an inspiration for this card.So I hope you like it.  I thought of layering strips of tan and blue vellum to sort of show as the sand and waves of the ocean. I sponged each edge of the blue vellum with Versamark and dipped it in white embossing powder and heat set it.   Then I stamped the new April Technique Junkie April release crab on card stock vellum.  I inked it first with vellum ink and then inked it with a dye based Soft Suede ink.  I covered it with clear embossing powder and heat set it.  Then I used a brown marker and colored on the back.   Both the crab and the verse are from a Technique Junkie April Release stamp set called  Crabby, Set of 3.
                                     .

Now this newly released Technique Junkie April release stamp is called Swans.  I inked the stamp with vellum ink and then covered it with Red Dragon embossing powder and heat set it.  It is on plain white card stock. The embossing powder is red with flecks of gold in it.  Then I had this inspiration -- could I use a newish product that Pat carries on the embossed section and put gold ink in the white lines separating the feathers of the swans?  I tried it and it worked! I used the dropper tool in the bottle and used small drops of the gold Minx ink and spread it around on the embossing powder with a damp paint brush.  http://techniquejunkies.com/gold-dust-minx-shimmering-inks/  There are several colors of the Minx ink -- I only have a few colors.Then I spread some gold glimmer spray on the white card stock.

Then I used some red vellum from my stash and stamped  the saying from Technique Junkie stamps PS005 - Sentimental Sayings http://techniquejunkies.com/sentimental-sayings/ .  I used black Versafine ink and clear embossing powder.  I used my X - Xyron machine to put adhesive on the back.

And now for the rest of the blog hop -- if you haven't started at the beginning you should do that now.  Go to The Design Team Blog. After me you will go to Karen McAlpine's Blog

And remember -- all of the April Release stamps are on sale for 15% off through April 8. And that is no April Fool's joke!

April is a wonderful time to get inky with new stamps!