Season's Givings Blog Hop

Happy New Year & a Blog Hop! 

Happy New Year Everyone! Today we are thrilled to be participating in the Seasons Givings Blog Hop! The idea for this wonderful hop was created by Latisha Yost and it's all about thanking our blog readers.

If you are new to our blog - WELCOME! We hope you will keep coming back for more inspiration this year! If you are already a reader - THANK YOU! We are so grateful for all of you who read our blog every day and we are happy for the chance to say thank you for your support of our small business!!

Just in case you aren't familiar with our brand, we are a small husband and wife company - Jen and Jeff- run out our home in southern Wisconsin. Jen is the creative side and is the artist behind all the adorable stamp designs in our shop. Jeff is more on the analytic side and runs the business and web side of things! Although we both definitely help each other whenever we can, Jen looking over spreadsheets and Jeff helping decide on product design ideas! We are supervised by our two adorable kitties - Newton, who is the namesake of our company, and Hobbes, who is his sweet, slightly younger brother. 

Here's a quick photo of Newton (he's the orange one - just like our logo) and Hobbes in their favorite snuggly spot!

Happy New Year Card! 

Since today is the first day of the New Year I wanted to share a New Years card I just created with everyone!

I have been having so much fun with our new Newton Celebrates and Newton's New Year Stamp Sets! Those kitties with the champagne make me smile! For this card I used the kitty holding the bottle from the Newton's New Year Stamp Set and the kitty holding the champagne glass is from the Newton Celebrates Stamp Set. They are so cute together! I colored both images using Copic markers and cut them out with their coordinating die sets. For the background of this card I cut a panel of shiny silver paper and then used our Bubbly Stencil with white embossing paste over the top! For a bit more texture, I layered a piece of vellum that I cut into a stitched rectangle using our Frames & Flags Die Set over the top. Then I added a black banner, also cut out with the Frames & Flags Die Set and layered the kitties over the top. I wanted to add the year onto the banner so I got out our Essential Alphabet Die Set to add in the 2019. This die set is perfect for adding custom words and numbers to your cards! I finished out the card by stamping the "happy new year" sentiment from the Newton's New Year Stamp Set on a yellow circle and tucking it behind the kitties! 

I love how this turned out! I hope you enjoyed this card today and the blog hop too! Read on to find out how you can win and make sure you check out the other blogs in this hop since EVERY stop has a prize giveaway!! How awesome is that!?

New Years Sale is on now! 

We are having a sale right now if you'd like to try some our products at a discount! You can receive 19% off your purchase by using code NEWYEAR19  at  Newton's Nook Designs! Offer good through January 2!

Enter to Win! Season's Givings Hop Prizes! 

We will be choosing one lucky winner to win a $25 store credit for Newton's Nook Designs online shop!

To enter, we ask that you do one or more of the following:

• Follow newtonsnook on Instagram for inspiration and kitty photos too!
• Sign up for our e-newsletter for weekly inspiration and sale information!
• Join our Create & Share Facebook Group where you can connect with other fans and share projects

Then leave a comment on this post telling us which of the above you have done. If you already do all the items above you can still enter, just leave a comment saying you are already a follower. 

You have until Sunday, January 6th at 11 pm EST to enter -- winners will be announced on the NND blog on Monday, January 7th.

The WHOLE blog hop!

There are a ton of awesome stops on this hop so make sure you check out the whole list below for more chances to win prizes at each stop!

Lawn Fawn

Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine

Hero Arts

Papertrey Ink

My Favorite Things

Reverse Confetti

My Sweet Petunia

Picket Fence Stamps

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

Ink Blot Shop

Indigo Jade Art

Sunny Studio Stamps

Paper House Productions

Kraftin Kimmie Stamps

The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store

Newton's Nook Designs <--- You are Here

Latisha Yoast

Lydia Fiedler

Lori Craig

Dina Kowal

Nichol Spohr

Chari Moss

Jenn Shurkus

Vera Yates

Ashley Newell

Beth Pingry

Giovana Smith

Dana Joy

Heather Hoffman

Margie Higuchi

Mindy Eggen

Julie Tilman

Cindy Lawrence

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Kelly Latevola

Emily Midgett

Ilina Crouse

Emily Leiphart

Kristie Goulet

Debi Adams

Tracey McNeeley

Wanda Guess

Ashley Harris

Tracey McLennon

Janine Tinklenberg

Amy Rysavy

Caly Person

Marcie Sharp

Mary-Ann Coulter

Amy Tsuruta

Tricia Barber

Shemaine Smith

Christine Meyer

Lisa Henke

Shellye McDaniel

Kathy Schweinfurth

Yvonne Van Der Grijp

Lynette Kaufmann

Laura Williams

Dana Tatar

Cheiron Brandon

Patti Gilliam

Gracie Chavez

Carisa Zglobicki

Debbie Seyer

Mariana Grigsby

Michele Woerner

Deborah Saaranen

Lisa Stein

Merry Christmas! See You in 2019!

Please Note: Our office is closed December 23 - 28 for the Christmas Holiday.

Orders placed during this time will be begin shipping Dec. 29

We are going to be spending some time over the next week with our families so we will also be taking a break from blog posts until the new year! But don't worry - we will be back in January with lots of amazing inspiration! Have a great Holiday!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! 

 - Jen, Jeff, Newton and Hobbes

A Fond Farewell to Juliana Michaels!

Saying Thank you & Farewell to Juliana!

Today we are sharing a collection of favorites created by Juliana. We are sad to say this will be our last post featuring Juliana as a member of our Design Team at Newton's Nook Designs! We are so grateful to have had Juliana on our team two amazing years! We've truly loved all her beautiful cards! She has such an eye for color and has inspired us each month with so many creative ways to use our products! Her creations always bring a smile to our faces! Plus, she is such a sweetheart and we've enjoyed getting to know her too. Juliana has been such an awesome member of our NND family! We are so sad to see her go but we feel lucky to have had her on our team for so long! Who knows -  you might see her back now and then for a blog hop or special feature! We wish her the very best as she continues to do fun things in the craft world and will definitely be checking out her blog - 17 Turtles in the future to say hello!

I thought it would be fun to re-share a few favorite cards by Juliana so I asked her to choose her favorite cards from her time on the NND Design Team! She has created so many awesome projects it was hard for her to choose but here are her picks below!

I'm a huge Halloween fan and the adorable Newton's Costume Party is one of my favorites! I just loved dressing up each cat with a different costume. I created the background using the Sky Borders Die Set too!

The mice from Naughty or Mice quickly became one of my favorite Christmas stamp sets from last year!

Being a big lover of all things Christmas, I just adore the cute llama in the Llama Delivery set. Here I combined it with the Snowfall Stencil to create a festive holiday scene. I also tucked in some holly with the Pines & Holly Die Set and used the Frames & Flags Die Set too.

 I love combining multiple images onto one card and the Sending Hugs Stamp Set is perfect for that!
 

Along with their adorable stamp sets, NND also creates some fun stencils and dies like this Tree Rings Stencil and Autumn Leaves Die Set. I also added in a sentiment from the Thankful Thoughts Stamp Set.

Last but not least...the final card I created for NND combined some of my favorite characters all on one card! I'm especially smitten with those cute pups from Happy Howl-i-days! This card includes images from Happy Howl-idays, Llama Delivery, Santa Paws Newton, Naughty or Mice, and Slothy Christmas along with the Framework Die Set. 

Thank you so much, Juliana, for the awesome inspiration! We'll miss you! If you would like to continue to follow Juliana and see her creations you can continue to find her at her blog, 17 Turtles!

Meowy Christmas Card by Amanda Bodine

Meowy Christmas! 

This adorable card by Amanda would be perfect for any cat lover on your Christmas card list! She created this card with the adorable images  of the kitty popping out of the gift box and the pile of gifts from our Newton's Christmas Cuddles Stamp Set. She colored the images with vibrant colors using copic markers and then trimmed them out with the coordinating Newton's Christmas Cuddles Die Set. For her background she created a panel of ombré blue to white and added the "we wish you a meowy Christmas" sentiment, also from the Newton's Christmas Cuddles Stamp Set along the top. She also framed the panel with a black scallop edged frame using our Framework Die Set. What a fun holiday card!

Thanks for the beautiful inspiration today, Amanda! To see more of her beautiful coloring and projects, visit Amanda over at her blog,  RutabagaPie Designs!

Joyful Tidings Poinsettia Card by Tatiana Trafimovich

Joyful Tidings!

This gorgeous floral card by Tatiana is so perfect for spreading holiday cheer! She featured the gorgeous florals from our Poinsettia Blooms Stamp Set, coloring them in vibrant shades of red and lime green using copic markers. Then she cut them all out using the coordinating Poinsettia Blooms Die Set and created two clusters of three blooms each for her card. She popped the flowers up using dimensionals and tucked the leaves and holly behind them. She also created a lovely panel of Argyle  for her card using our Argyle Stencil Set. This set is two pieces so it makes it easy to create two color patterns. For this card, she used shades of lime green and a darker green for the stitching! So pretty! She finished off her card by embossing the "joyful tidings" sentiment in white onto a square of red.

To see more beautiful creations by Tatiana, you can visit Tatiana at Tatiana Craft and Art.

Poinsettia Blooms Birthday Wishes Card by Larissa Heskett

Make a Wish!

Today Larissa is sharing an idea on how to stretch your holiday stamps by creating a beautiful Birthday card using our Poinsettia Blooms Stamp Set. She colored all those lovely blooms from the set in shades or red and green and trimmed out all the pieces with the coordinating Poinsettia Blooms Die Set, layering them to create a gorgeous cluster of flowers in the corner of her card. She also added in some berries and boughs from the Winter Birds Stamp Set and cut them out with the Winter Birds Die Set to add more elements to her floral clusters. 

Larissa added the "make a wish" sentiment from the Birthday Essentials Stamp Set to turn this card into a birthday card! If you are still creating Christmas cards, this would make a stunning Holiday too. Just add in a holiday sentiment.  She framed the lovely floral panel using the scallop edged frame from our Frames & Flags Die Set.

On the inside, She added some more distress ink and splatters along with a second sentiment from our Birthday Essentials Stamp Set. 

Thank you,  Larissa, for the gorgeous creation today! To say hello to Larissa and see more of her creations, visit her over at her blog, Larissa Heskett Designs.

Santa in the Sun Card by Samantha Mann

Santa's Gone to the Beach!

Santa is ready for a vacation on this adorable card by Samantha! She used the fun image of Santa on the inner tube from our Sun Soaked Christmas Stamp Set, coloring it in fun bright colors! I love those lime green swim trunks! Then she added a tiny pom pom on the hat and  fussy cut the image out to add to her card. For the card base she combined two of our stencils! She used our Sunscape Stencil across the top of the card and blended it into the bottom using our Waves Stencil! What an awesome background! To finish it off she added the sentiment from the Sun Soaked Christmas Stamp Set in the sky with black ink!

Thank you Samantha for the fun card today! To say hello to Samantha and see more of her awesome creations, you can visit Samantha's Blog, Sam's Scrap Candy!

Here Comes Santa Paws Card by Larissa Heskett

Rooftop Santa Paws!

Happy Friday! Are you getting ready for Christmas yet? This adorable holiday card by Larissa will put you in the mood! She used the kitty popping out of the chimney from our Santa Paws Newton Stamp Set. She colored him along with his gift and the little mouse in gorgeous rich colors using copic markers. She added in some awesome texture and glitter on the snow and the tops of their Santa Hats too! Then she trimmed them out using the coordinating Santa Paws Newton Die Set to add to her card.  For her background she created a gorgeous blue sky and added in snowflakes using our Snowfall Stencil. So pretty! Over the sky she embossed the "here come Santa paws" sentiment in three colors! She mounted this whole lovely scene onto a scallop edged panel that was cut out using our Frames & Flags Die Set.

Thank you,  Larissa, for the gorgeous creation today! To say hello to Larissa and see more of her creations, visit her over at her blog, Larissa Heskett Designs.

Anniversary card by Naki Rager

One Layer Anniversary Card! 

Today we are sharing this adorable one layer anniversary card by Naki! For this set she featured our new Newton Celebrates Stamp Set! She used the image of the dog and cat opening a champagne bottle together, stamping it in the corner of her card. She colored them in neutral colors with a fun pop of pink on the bottle.Then she used our Tumbling Hearts Stencil to add a whole bunch of hearts above the image! How cute is that!? It looks like they are fizzing out of the champagne! So perfect for an anniversary celebration. She added in the "Happy Anniversary" sentiment using words from the Newton Celebrates Stamp Set. This set has a bunch of words you can mix, making it versatile for birthdays, anniversaries and any other celebrations!

Did you notice that she created this whole card on just ONE LAYER?! How amazing is that!?

Thank you for the beautiful card today, Naki! If you like this project you can see more of Naki's work over on her blog, Notes from Naki. Stop by and say hello!

Celebrate Card by Holly Endress

Ready to Celebrate!  

Today we are sharing a super cute celebration card by Holly. She used the fun image of the dog and cat opening a champagne bottle from our new Newton Celebrates Stamp Set.  She colored those cuties with copic markers and added them to her card, trimming them out using the coordinating Newton Celebrates Die Set. She added in bubbles in the background with our Bubbly Stencil and distress inks.  She finished it off by adding the "celebrate" sentiment onto a banner that was cut out using our Frames & Flags Die Set.  This card would be so great to have on hand for any type of celebration that comes up! You could use it for a New Years Card or for a anniversary, wedding or even a birthday! 

Thank you, Holly, for the adorable inspiration today! You can find more of Holly's creations and say hello to her over at her blog, Hollybeary Creations!

Duo of Christmas Cards by Zsofia Molnar

Poinsettias with sparkle!  

Today we are sharing a duo of beautiful holiday cards by Zsofia! These cards are gorgeous yet simple to make! Perfect inspiration to create in the rush before the holidays! On these two cards she featured the lovely little poinsettia images from Poinsettia Blooms Stamp Set. She used the smaller images from the set, embossing them in silver and then coloring them in two color palettes for her cards. For the first card she used pink and the second one she used red. She cut out the images using the coordinating Poinsettia Blooms Die Set to add them onto a stitched white rectangle that was cut out using our Frames & Flags Die Set.

Here is a closer look at the pink version:

Isn't it so pretty how shimmery they are? On this card she also added "Season's Greetings" from the  Poinsettia Blooms Stamp Set, embossed in silver under the blooms.

And here is the second version, exactly the same, but in red. She also changed up the sentiment on this one, using "wishing you joy" from the Poinsettia Blooms Stamp Set.

These cards are so pretty with all the added sparkle!

Thank you, Zsofia, for inspiring us today! You can find more of Zsofia's lovely creations and say hello to her over at her blog, Safsafdesign

Deck the Halls with Inky Paws WINNERS!

This is our second post today. To see an lovely poinsettia card by Jennifer, scroll down or click here. 

Thank you to everyone for participating in our blog hop!

We really enjoy reading all of your comments! Look below to see if you won! 

The the blogs and the comments were chosen using random.org

For the first $25 Store Credit -  
the winner was randomly chosen from Zsofia Molnar's blog: Sue D

For the second $25 Store Credit -  
the winner was randomly chosen from Keeway Tsao's blog:  Brenda Lea Abbott

Congrats Sue & Brenda! Please e-mail us at info@newtonsnookdesigns.com with your full name, and email address to claim your prize (it's also easiest if you already have an account set up in our shop)

Poinsettia Card by Jennifer Jackson

Season's Greetings!

Hello! Jen here today with a lovely holiday card using our  Poinsettia Blooms Stamp Set. For this card I wanted to create a soft watercolored look so I embossed the big image of blooms with white embossing powder onto a piece of watercolor cardstock. The I carefully added color with Zig clean color brush markers, coloring inside the lines. The raised edge of the embossing helps keep the watercolors neat. Then I decided it needed to pop a little more so I went around the exterior edge of the image using a blue. I love how the this makes the white edges pop! 

For the shapes, I used the Scalloped frame from our Framework Die Set. Then I cut out a light blue banner using our Frames & Flags Die Set and stamped the "Season's Greetings" Sentiment onto it from the Poinsettia Blooms Stamp Set. 

To finish off the card I put it all together, mounting it on a red cardstock base and adding a strip of kraft cardstock across the center. I also added some grey and white washi tape and a bit of red twine! I love how this card turned out! 

I didn't use the die set for this card, but the Poinsettia Blooms Stamp Set does have a coordinating Poinsettia Blooms Die Set if you prefer the look of your images cut out. 

I hope you enjoyed this project today!