Clear and Simple Stamps

Sweet Little Favor

Style Watch {Sweet Little Favor}

This weekend marks one month from Valentine’s Day and I’ve got a project that you won’t want to miss! 

I am head over heels in love with all the party favor dies included in this month’s release.

I am having a blast playing with them and coming up with creative ways to use them, and this week’s project is no exception…

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I remember being a grade-schooler, and receiving bags full of miniature Valentine’s Day cards, many of which had a piece of candy attached. There is no reason that the fun of miniature Valentine cards should be for grade-schoolers only. We adults should join in on the fun too, right?

Well, take a look at these mini Valentine “boxes” that I created using the basic box top die from Party Favor Die #2. It’s super cute and very easy to make, and they are perfectly sized to fit a few grown-up chocolates inside. Set up an assembly line and you can pump out a bunch of these in no time…

Until later Loverlies,

Amber D

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DIRECTIONS:

Be sure to hop over to my blog, Damask Love, for even more photos and details about creating these adorable treat boxes.

SUPPLIES:

STAMPS: Background Basics 1, Love Cupid, Hearts Plus

INK: Perfect Little Black Dress, Dare to be a Diva Red, I’m a Princess Pink

PAPER: Paint the Town Pink, I’m a Princess Pink, A Blanc Check

SIMPLE CUTS: Shapes (Hearts), Party Favor #2

OTHER: Dimensionals, Corner Rounder, Baker’s Twine (Designer Mix), Banner Die Cut

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Visit the Style Watch for more New Year, New Product Highlights as we explore all the fun ways to get the most out of your stamp sets and die cuts this winter season.

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It’s in the Bag

Typically, it’s the thought that counts, but today it’s all about the packaging. Whether wrapped in pretty paper, tucked in a decorated gift bag, or tied up with the perfect bow, its presentation that takes the lead in gift giving…

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Group Project: It’s in the Bag

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With each month, comes a fun new challenge that is presented to the design team. This month features packaging for party favors. Join the design team as we share a few fabulous ideas for gift giving that will make everyone want to know “what’s in the bag”! We’ve included a full list of participating CSS designers for you to get inspired by their fun party favors:

Lori / Amber / Laurie / Stephany / Kim / Dana / Laura / Tracy

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It’s in the Bag: Whoopie Pie Heart Favor

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Did you know that your die cuts can easily translate into delicious little treats? That’s right, today we are baking sweet, heart-shaped whoopie pies, and packaging them as fun little favors to give for Valentine’s Day.

To get started you will need a few key items:

• Shapes: Hearts die cuts
• Parchment Paper
• Pencil
• Red Velvet Cake Batter
• Creme Filling
• Food Safe Bag

You will start by die cutting the largest heart in the Shapes: Hearts set. Take the cut paper heart and trace it several times onto parchment paper.

Fill a piping bag with Red Velvet cake batter.

Flip your parchment paper over, so that the pencil marks do not touch the cake batter and pipe batter onto parchment paper.  Be careful to stay in the lines and follow the heart shaped outline.

Bake per instructions, remove from oven and let cool.  Add creme filling and sandwich two halves to create a whoopie pie.

Insert into a food safe bag tie closed with Red/White/Pink baker’s twine and a cute stamped tag from Trendy Tags using the Tags #1 die cut.

Dress up your special treats with a custom Party Favor bag. Die cut a Party Favor #3 from Dish All the Dirt Brown cardstock, assemble, and adhere with Simple Adhesive. Adhere a strip of coordinating Dish All the Dirt Brown ribbon for the handle. Cut a panel of Dish All the Dirt Brown cardstock, and stamp woodgrain background from the Background Basics 1 stamp set in A Blanc Check ink. Next die cut a small heart from the Shapes:Heart set. Adhere a small square of Dare to be a Diva Red cardstock to the favor bag base. Adhere stamped panel to favor bag front with dimensionals, and insert whoopie pie treat.

Whoopie Pie Heart Favor Supply List:

• STAMPS: Background Basics 1, Trendy Tags
• CARDSTOCK: Dish All the Dirt Brown, A Blanc Check, Dare to be a Diva Red
• INK: A Blanc Check, Dare to be a Diva Red, Dish All the Dirt Brown
• SIMPLE CUTS: Tags #1, Shapes:Hearts, Party Favor #3
• RIBBON: Dish All the Dirt Brown, Red/White/Pink Baker’s Twine
• OTHER: Dimensionals, Simple Adhesive, Food Safe Bag, Red Velvet Cake, Creme Filling, Parchment Paper

Be sure to visit with each CSS designer for more inspiration that is In the Bag…

Lori / Amber / Laurie / Stephany / Kim / Dana / Laura / Tracy

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It’s in the Bag Gallery

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in the bag {whoopie pie}

piping bag

pre-baked

parchment template

whoopie pie

party favor 3

whoopie pie

tag

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Looking for more inspiration?

Download the CSS Daily Papercrafting App {2.0} available on iTunes

{You can download the CSS App from iTunes here}

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Colorful Hexagons

Style Watch {Introducing Background Basics 1}

This has been a fantastic week at Clear and Simple Stamps. Two days ago, we released a TON of new product! Today the fun continues as I share more projects using our newly released stamps.

At the end of 2011, I created a project for Style Watch that gave you a little sneak peek at a new stamp set {here}. Well, that stamp set is here and it’s a goodie!
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The Background Basics 1 set, includes a variety of trendy patterns that are perfect to add pizazz to any project. Use them as backgrounds or as the focal of your card.

For today’s projects, I’ve created a set of cards using my favorite of the background patterns – the hexagons!

Take a look at this colorful and simple card set where I utilize white space as a important element of the design.

Until later Loverlies,

Amber D

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DIRECTIONS:

Hop over to my blog, Damask Love, for design tips and tricks for creating a similar card set of your own!

SUPPLIES:

STAMPS: Background Basics 1, Craft Room, Taglines

INK: Perfect Little Black Dress

PAPER: Paint the Town Pink, I’m a Princess Pink, Dare to be a Diva Red, Creamsicle Cardigan, Orange You Fabulous, True Blue Fan, Your Style Blue me Away, Simply Blue-tiful, Green with Envy, Glamazon Green (Designer Mix Cardstock)

OTHER: Dimensionals, Corner Rounder

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Visit the Style Watch for more New Year, New Product Highlights as we explore all the fun ways to get the most out of your stamp sets and die cuts this winter season.

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Little Critter Collection

January/February Release

Today is the big day!  Little Critters are here and oh boy are we excited to share this fun release with you.  There is quite a bit to see, as we are releasing TONS of new stamps, die cuts, twine, and brand new Copic Trios.  Grab a cup of coffee, tea, hot cocoa….and spend a little time with the CSS design crew as we take you on a journey through today’s release…

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Little Critters Collection

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To give you an idea of what to expect there are (8) signature die cuts, (12) brand new Copic markers and (3) Copic Trio sets for pre-order, a fun addition of Baker’s Twine to the Simple Notions line of accessories, a new combination series of dies with coordinating frame stamps, and (12) new stamp sets to kick of 2012 – CSS Style!

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Design Team Inspiration

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We couldn’t kick off a release day without sharing a little project with you.  How about some coordinating mini cards and lollipop treats? The Tags 1 die cut is the perfect size for these miniature tootsie roll pops. We punched a hole in the opposite end so that it would become a slider for the lollipop stick. Pair it with a coordinating Little Critter card and you have an instant Valentine’s Day treat.  These are perfect little surprises to leave in side lunch bags and coat pockets.

The designers have been busy creating fun release day projects to share with you. Click on each of the links below to see what our design team members have been up to with the newly released Little Critters Collection. Be sure to visit with each designer for more details. We will share the Design Team links again at the end of the post because it’s a long one packed full of goodies, and we don’t want you to miss a single thing.

Laura O’Donnell /  Dana Grothaus /  Tracy Schultz / Laura Bassen

Lori Tecler / Laurie Willison /  Kim Duran / Stephany Zerbe / Amber Daigre

Join us every 2nd Tuesday of the month to see how each designer interprets a monthly group project.  Feel free to join in on the fun and upload your CSS projects to our Flickr gallery. Visit the blog January 10th for all the details.

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Style Watch {New Year, Products, & Trends}

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{Sign up for the newsletter}

Be sure to visit with Amber each week on the Style Watch as she’ll bring you a fab new project influenced by the current trends of the season, and shares a few of her infamous tips and tricks with the latest CSS products. Join Amber all month long as she dives deep into the new products that have just released in the Little Critter Collection. And be sure to visit her blog Damask Love for more details…

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CSS Daily App on iTunes

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Looking for more inspiration?

Download the CSS Daily Papercrafting App 2.0 available on iTunes

{You can download the CSS Daily App 2.0 from iTunes here}

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January/February Release

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Now that you’ve seen a little bit of eye candy, here is the release in it’s entirety. We have organized the release by categories to help navigate your way…

SIMPLE CUTS – Signature Die Cuts

{Build-a-Critter Die Cuts}

That’s correct, die cuts to build your very own critters.

This fun little chart below shows each of the critters assembled.

Owl/Kitty ($35)

The Owl serves as the base critter for all of the additional critters.

You must have the Owl base in order to create additional critters.

Bat/Bee ($25)

Fox/Raccoon ($30)

Have you caught the critter craze and want it all?

Complete Build-a-Critter Collection ($90)

COORDINATING STAMPS & DIE CUTS

Shapes: Hearts ($35)

This set comes complete with (6) graduated heart shaped die cuts

and (6) coordinating heart frame stamps.

LITTLE CRITTER COLLECTION

Little Critters ($40)

Little Critters ($24)

Little Critters Too ($24)

Taglines: Critters ($24)

Critters Sentiments ($24)

Party Elements: Critters ($15)

Considering planning a Little Critter party,

or creating fun little valentines and want it all?

Complete  Little Critter Collection ($151)

ALPHABETS

Alpha Duo ($24)

This alpha set is like getting two alphabets in one. It comes with both

an open outline stamp and a solid stamp for each letter and punctuations.

BACKGROUNDS

Each of these backgrounds sets are build-able.

This means you can continue the pattern top or bottom, left or right.

Background Basics 1 ($24)

Hearts Plus ($24)

The single hearts here work with the heart die cut shapes.

Quotes II ($15)

HOLIDAYS

Both holiday sets coordinate with the Tags #1 die cut.

Each come with a different frame element that fits the larger tag die.

Love Cupid ($24)

Lucky Charm ($15)

PARTY FAVOR DIE CUTS

Each party favor is one complete piece. They were specifically designed this way so that:

1. Your bags/boxes will have a stronger base – the integrity of the favor is more reliable.
2. Your bags/boxes will have a perfectly polished and finished look by having fewer seams.
3. You can easily cut and assemble your bags/boxes much quicker.
4. You will use less adhesive when constructing your bags/boxes.
5. And they are just plain cute!

Party Favor #1 ($30)

Party Favor #2 ($48)

Party Favor #3 ($40)

The handle openings were designed to be on the sides of the party favor to allow for more versatility when creating and embellishing the favor. In addition, the handle openings are perfectly proportioned to fit Clear and Simple Stamps ribbon.

Finding it hard to pick a favorite party favor and want to get them all?

Complete  Party Favor  Collection ($118)

You’ve made almost through the entire release,

and you’ve discovered that you want it all…

Complete  January/February Release ($520) – stamps & die cuts

COPIC MARKERS

Copic has introduced (12) brand new colors.

Pre-order your set today – shipping late February

EX6-12 ($84)

With new markers, comes a few new trio sets that are created to

take the guess work out of blending. Pre-order Only

Green Trio 4 ($18)

Violet Trio 4 ($18)

Earth Trio 9 ($18)

BAKER’S TWINE

We’ve added {15} colors of baker’s twine.

Want to give each a try?

You can purchase a Designer Mix of Twine ,

which includes 1 yds of twine in each of the (15) colors.

Designer Mix Twine ($3) – 15 yds/1 yd per color

Individual colors ($1) – 3 yds

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Design Team Blog Hop

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We have had so much fun sharing our first release of the New Year with you. Be sure to visit with each designer for more inspiration, and uncover fun tips, and tricks along the way with the new CSS stamps and dies cuts…

Laura O’Donnell /  Dana Grothaus /  Tracy Schultz / Laura Bassen

Lori Tecler / Laurie Willison /  Kim Duran / Stephany Zerbe / Amber Daigre

Thank you for visiting with us on release day.

You can shop online {here}

Love Bandit Favor

designed by Laura O’Donnell

Visit her blog {it’s all rosie}

Designer Laura O’Donnell picked the perfect little love bandit critter, because this  party favor bag definitely stole our hearts….

{click here to return to the Jan/Feb 2012 Release Day post}

Critter Cuties Trio

Style Watch {Introducing Little Critters}

Happy 2012 Style Watchers!

Welcome to a new year of amazing product from Clear and Simple Stamps. This year, you will find tons of new and inspiring changes at CSS, and you are going to love each of them!

The first change, which you may have already noticed, is that we are now releasing new product on the 5th (rather than the first), and releases will occur bi-monthly. With this comes another fab change, a huge selection of amazing product being released. For the month’s of January and February, we’ve got TONS…and I mean TONS of stamps, dies and embellishments to show you!

To kick off this new year and new release format, I am going to share a project using one of our newest additions to the CSS product line: Little Critters.

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The Little Critter product line includes large and small stamps, coordinating sentiments and …wait for it…an ENTIRE series of die cuts that allow you to build your own adorable critter!

We’ve got sweet bumble bees, sneaky raccoons, sly foxes, wise owls and so much more! I’ve created a trio of critter cuties that are perfect for Valentine’s Day! You’ll love how easy and fun it is to be creative with these new dies!

Be sure to head over to my blog, Damask Love for even more photos of this project along with several tips on getting the most out of your critter dies.

Until later Loverlies,

Amber D

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DIRECTIONS:

Visit Damask Love for full details on assembling each critter, along with tips for getting the most out of your dies!

SUPPLIES:

STAMPS: Little Critters, Little Critters Too, Trendy Tags, Background Basics 1, Hearts Plus

INK: I’m A Princess Pink, Perfect Little Black Dress

PAPER: Perfect Little Black Dress, A Blanc Check, Dish All The Dirt Brown, Say Yellow to all Your Fans, You’re Such a Gray-cious Host

DIE CUTS: Tags #1 die cut, Shapes: Hearts die collection, Build-a-Critter die collection, Party Favor #3 Die Cut

OTHER: Bakers Twine (gray, pink, yellow)

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Visit the Style Watch for more New Year, New Product Highlights as we explore all the fun ways to get the most out of your stamp sets and die cuts this winter season.

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