With Christmas out of the way I think it’s time I started bringing you some sneaks peeks from the Stampin’ Up! January to April 2023 Mini Catalogue. This 92 page catalogue goes live to customers on January 5th and is chock full of new products. Also starting on January 5th is the annual Sale-A-Bration promotion where you can earn exclusive free items with a qualifying order. So to kick off my sneak peeks I wanted to create a really simple project using a new masculine stamp set called Beside Me.

BESIDE ME
I began with a 2″ x 5-1/2″ strip of Thick Very Vanilla Card and a Tuxedo Black ink pad. Then from the Beside Me Stamp Set I chose the image with the child on a bike and stamped it onto the card. This image fitted beautifully and I can see a similar-sized strip used as a layer on a card front.
Colouring was quick and easy using Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers but without doing any blending. For the man’s shirt I used dark So Saffron, with light So Saffron on his shoes. The man’s trousers are dark Crumb Cake while I used the light Crumb Cake for the child’s hair. For the man’s hair I chose the Bronze marker, and then coloured all the skin areas with Ivory.
The boy’s shirt came next in light Starry Sky, with his shorts in dark Balmy Blue. Then on the his hat, handle bars, pedals and bike frame I used dark Poppy Parade. Finally I chose light Basic Black for the bike tyres and seat, before colouring the metal parts of the bike in light So Saffron.

So far, so good, but the image seemed to be hovering. So I scribbled a little ‘ground’ around the figures using the light Crumb Cake Stampin’ Blends. Finally using a Blending Brush I added a very light layer of Starry Sky ink over the rest of the piece.
To finish I cut a 6″ piece of Sahara Sand 3/8″ Twill Ribbon from the combo pack. Then after punching a slot at the top of the card with the Very Best Trio Punch I threaded the ribbon through the hole. With a little Tear & Tape Adhesive where the ribbon overlapped to hold it in place, my first Beside Me project was complete.
I have to say that I’m delighted that Stampin’ Up! has created this new stamp set featuring masculine figures. I have no doubt it will be very popular. What do you think?

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