Summer 2017 Holiday Die Release Available NOW!

Happy August, everyone!

Is it hot where you are? Because it's blazing hot here in Texas. And so naturally I like to cool off with a little Fall/Winter/Holiday crafting!

There are ten new dies available now in the Summer 2017 Holiday collection. You'll find these dies at your local shops, favorite online retailers, or you can purchase directly from our website. 

Let's look at the three new pop-up dies. The House & Fence Pop-up is a very versatile die set. It comes with a Floating Floor mechanism that can be used for so many other things. Plus, the house can be styled for any season. To learn how to assemble this die, check out the video tutorial here: Die Assembly Video - 1015 House & Fence Pop-up 

This winter version of the house is the one I make in the video tutorial. In addition to the House & Fence die, I used the Winter Charms (trees, snowflakes) and Word Set 3 (greeting) plus labels from the Katherine Label Pop-up.

There are two Halloween dies in this release. The Halloween Elements die is all new, featuring lots of great elements and props to use with the other dies, especially with the House & Fence for haunted house cards. The Halloween Scene die was previously licensed last year, but sold through, so I brought it back. Combine the dies together and you have everything you need for a spooky scene!

The House & Fence is also going to be great for year-round cards for any theme. This card uses the Tree Pop-up, Nature Edges, Winter Animals and Word Set 1.

Next up, the new Christmas Tree Pop-up. Learn how to assemble this die set here: Die Assembly Video - 1020 Christmas Tree Pop-up

A really great pairing (can you tell I just returned from a trip to wine country?) with the Christmas Tree is 1012 Snowman Twist Circle. You'll be able to use the largest circle die (3" diameter) to make tree skirts.

The Christmas Tree Pop-up includes a decorative cardinal to perch in the tree, plus a die that cuts four circle ornaments at a time, plus a 3D star topper. Plus I design collections that coordinate, so that as you build your collection, you have tons and tons of options. The winter white tree below incorporates borders made with the Nature Edges, a flourish from the Gift Card Label, circles from the Snowman Twist Circle, and a few of the Winter Charms.

The last of the new pop-ups is the Sleigh Pop-up. Now I have to give proper acknowledgement to my business partner, Tanya Kostynuk, for suggesting a pop-up sleigh for this release. I was hesitant at first, because I have designed two previous sleigh dies in the past, but Tanya rightly pointed out that a sleigh would be perfect for the little animals and her Riley the Moose stamps.

I challenged myself to make this new sleigh very different from my previous ones. The sleigh itself is more ornate, with swirly runners and a pretty damask stencil/emboss feature, and the mechanism is very versatile - you can assemble it as a standing pop-up (card opened up flat to 180 degrees) or as a traditional pop-up (card opened and viewed at 90 degrees) Learn how to assemble this die set by watching the video tutorial: Die Assembly Video - 1021 Sleigh Pop-up

For this traditional pop-up I incorporated the new Gift Card Label on the front of the card. It's a great all-around label/flourish set for any theme, but also holds a standard size gift card perfectly.

Another option with the Gift Card Label is to cut a piece of cardstock to gift card size (2 1/8" x 3 3/8") and slide it into the large label, as I did for the card below.

A note about the new #1017 Snowman set. Seven of the eight dies in this set are identical to the ones included in #1012 Snowman Twist Circle die set. For customers who bought last year's licensed version of the Twist Circle, you can purchase 1017 Snowman and it will add on all the pieces you need for a Snowman Twist Circle. For customers who own 1012 Snowman Twist Circle, you really don't need both these sets unless you want doubles for cutting multiple snowman parts quickly.

Also, 1014 Halloween Scene is a straight re-release of last year's licensed version. It was a very popular die set so we've brought it back.

The new Winter Charms is a fabulous add-on for a lot of the pop-ups, including 1007 Charm Accordion. Learn how to assemble the Winter Charms in this video: Die Assembly Video - 1018 Winter Charms

This collection also includes a new animal set - 1016 Winter Animals. This set will make a bear, penguin and hedgehog. Learn how to assemble them in this video: Die Assembly Video - 1016 Winter Animals

Hey Ohio (and surrounding areas) - who will be at Stampaway this weekend? Me! Me! I'll be demoing these dies in the Riley & Company booth on Friday and Saturday. Also, if you're near Dayton, Ohio, stop in to Marco's Paper tomorrow to meet my business partner, Tanya, who will be demoing from 11 am to 5 pm and will have the new dies (and all of my sample cards) on display.

Happy Crafting!