...Free Spirit Boy, Day 1

Hello and welcome to the beginnings of the April stamp release at Waltzingmouse Stamps! If you are new to WMS, we release new stamps at the beginning of every month. In the few days leading up to the first of the month I show sneak peeks and samples here on my blog and on the 1st of April I will release the new sets!

Today begins the samples for Aprils two new sets: Free Spirit Boy and Free Spirit Sentiments. There will also be a new super handy template for April, more on that later.

Today also the DT begin their samples and you won't want to miss checking in with Jennifer, Lynn, Julia and Anya to see what they've done with this set.

As you will guess from the titles, these sets are all about making those notoriously difficult 'Man/boy' cards so much easier. There is a huge void in stamp designs that are truly suitable for the awkward 'teen' years and I wanted to steer well away from cutesy cartoony images in favour of something a little more edgy and up to date.

If you are not interested in making man cards, don't run away just yet, there are a few little surprises in these extremely versatile sets that you might just be interested in seeing! lol.

Specifically, the Free Spirit Boy set is designed for folks who need to make cards for boys aged from about 10 up to 20. I really tried hard to make this set a little different from what you might expect. Having said that, this is a hugely versatile set, crammed with 23 different stamps, many of which would be right at home on any sort of card.


For today's first card I used two of the 3 tribal motif stamps to create a sort of medallion image which framed my sentiment. I stamped the images and sentiment onto Kraft cardstock using Versamark and clear embossed with a heat gun. Once cool, I sponged with various Ranger Distress Inks, this is my fave current technique, the clear embossing resists the ink and you get a fab, stand out image with a cool grungy background! Colours used were Chipped Sapphire and Rusty hinge, and some black Versacolour ink. I could have just stamped the images in dark ink for a 'tattoo' feel but I had this Star trek/Klingon vibe in my head and wanted to grunge it up a little!!

The sentiment 'Awesome' from the Free Spirit Sentiments set is one of 54 separate stamps in the set. My little guy is 3 years old, and I have yet to experience what it's like to raise teenage boys but it strikes me that this is the age of encouragement and experience. In these years your little guy will turn from child to man and in all of that time, I imagine you will want to support and encourage him. That was the philosophy I had in mind when thinking up sentiments for the set. Phrases like " It's time to launch your dreams" and "Wherever you go, go safe" are the things I hope I get to say to my son someday as he embarks on the milestone adventures of life. Another thing I picture myself telling him frequently is "You can always come home" LOL, and this is also included in the set!!

The 'Awesome' card was a neat way to say 'well done' to your teen guy, the pic below shows the sentiment I used for the inside - It could also be used on the outside of a card. There are many groups of sentiments in this set that work well together for the inside and outsides of the same card but all of the sentiments work well on their own as well.

I paired it up with the third of the tribal 'tattoo' motifs, I think these are so cool and they can be grunged up, as above, or simply stamped, whatever suits your guy.


Today's second sample, a CD gift tin, uses a concentric circles motif. I see this sort of image on all sorts of 'pop' items and I wanted a large, random version of it as a stamp, something I could use either as a background stamp or to make a focal point.


Here I have heat embossed the image twice in copper embossing powder directly onto a CD tin, I LOVE this look, it looks store bought to me, especially when paired with this super simple black belly band. The little single circle motif from Free Spirit Boy and the sentiment from Free Spirit Sentiments are also copper embossed. I can see me giving this set to an older teen. It has a clean grown up feel, and doesn't need to be limited to boys, I think this makes a perfectly good 'Man' present too! LOL


Inside the tin, a super simple insert card, cut out with two spellbinders circles can be dressed up to match. It just lies on top of the CD. I cut it smaller than the CD because I wanted to see the silver of the CD so that my colour scheme of silver, copper and black from the exterior is repeated inside. Here I've added the little graphic equaliser symbol from the set, also copper embossed as this is a music CD. This is a CD compilation of some of DH's fave songs but you could do this with a store bought CD to dress it up. My CD tin came with the black inset plastic already in place to hold the CD. This took under 30 mins from start to finish.


Today's third card is for all you ladies who don't need to make so many masculine cards. They told me not to but I sneaked some flowers into the Free Spirit Boy set!! LOL, it's just a little trio of hibiscus flowers. They are there to back up the Surfing theme, more on that tomorrow. I know, I know, generally boys don't like flowers but tomorrow I'll show you how they work in with a dude card.


Today, they dress up a simple 'Thanks' card just beautifully. The trio was stamped twice in Memento Rich Cocoa ink in opposite corners to make a frame for the sentiment and coloured with copics. The sentiment is from Free Spirit Sentiments. Then a rectangular shape was cut out letting the flowers overspill the sides. The flowers were stamped a couple more times on the card base, just under the plain corners of the sentiment panel and everything was sponged a little with Tea Dye distress ink. I then wiped the sentiment panel with a little New Canvas Palette ink just to add a little more of a faded feel. Just had to adhere the panel and it was all done.


Sure hope these tickle! LOL.

A note about shipping for the April release:

The Post Office here will be closed on Good Friday 2nd April and Easter Monday 5th April, this means that anyone ordering on Thursday the 1st April, will have their orders shipped on Saturday the 3rd April and folks ordering from late Saturday until Monday night will have their orders shipped on Tuesday 6th April. My apologies if this proves an inconvenience for anyone but hopefully folks will all be having a lovely Easter break and won't mind the slight delay.