Pinkfresh Studio January Challenge + Featured Products

Happy Sunday, crafty friends! I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday so far! I just wanted to drop in and share a couple Pinkfresh things with you! First, we have new featured products for January! We decided to offer two stamp sets from our very first stamp & die release ever...and they also happen to be two of our most popular!

Forest Friends and Unicorn Dreams are 25% off all month long, or while supplies last. No code is necessary, as the prices are already discounted. If you've wanted these whimsical and fun sets in your Pinkfresh Studio collection...now is the time to grab them! I have used Forest Friends in THIS POST if you'd like to check it out.

Our January challenge also went live today, and we are doing something a little different this month. We are doing a 2018 Challenge Review!

I created a PDF that is linked in the challenge post that you can download for easy reference of all the different challenges! We thought it would be super fun to revisit challenges that were your favorite, or ones that you didn't have a chance to create for last year! You can get all the details you need in the January Challenge post, but the basics are you must use one of the challenge prompts, your project must be new & predominately feature Pinkfresh Studio products, and you must add a direct link to your newly created project by the due date. There are (2) $50 gift cards as prizes, one for a cardmaker and the other for a scrapbooker/memorykeeper.

I ended up actually choosing the rainbow color palette from the July watercolor challenge. While I did technically use Zig pens which are water based...it's a little bit of a stretch to call it watercolor. Lol!

To start I blended the cloud background in a rainbow gradient with my Taylored Expressions cloud stencils and Distress Oxide inks in the following colors (all linked at the end of the post): festive berries, dried marigold, scattered straw, cracked pistachio, peacock feather, wilted violet, shaded lilac, worn lipstick & tattered rose. I did the ink blending to a block of 130 LB cougar white cardstock from Cut Cardstock cut slightly smaller than an A2 card. I prefer this heavyweight cardstock because of its thickness and smooth surface - it makes ink blending super easy. With the rainbow gradient blended, then I blended some golden glitz Delicata ink to the entire surface to give it a nice shimmer.

Next I stamped & heat embossed the unicorn and florals to cougar white cardstock in Brutus Monroe Gilded embossing powder, which is my favorite gold embossing powder right now. I just love how smooth and beautiful it becomes once melted. Then I colored in the unicorn & florals using my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker set. I have the full set of 90, which I purchased on Amazon. This is their complete set of colors, and I really love having it! I utilize them as you would Copics quite often, which is what I did with this card. I used the following colors:

Pinks: light carmine, light pink, pale pink

Reds: red, geranium red

Oranges: orange, pale orange

Yellows: bright yellow, yellow, pale yellow

Greens: light green, pale green, green shadow

Blues: turquoise green, light blue

Purples: violet, purple, light violet, lilac, english lavender

Unicorn Body: pale gray, blender

With all the coloring done, I cut out all the images with their coordinating diecuts using my Gemini Jr. I purchsaed this machine last fall, and I've really been loving not having to crank any longer when diecutting. You do need to make sure that you rotate your cutting plate as you cut each time, or they get warped really quickly. I found this out the hard way with my first one, and had to replace it after about a week. I've been using my second one ever since.

At this point all the ink blending would have been set, so I proceeded to stamp & heat emboss the sentiment to the upper right corner of the rainbow cloud panel in detail white. I still used my powder tool generously because of the hybrid nature of Distress Oxide inks, which makes sure that the powder only sticks where you want it to. Then I mounted the rainbow cloud panel to the front of an A2 cougar white card base with a full sheet of foam adhesive.

Then I adhered the unicorn to the front, and arranged the florals on each side of it. Once they looked how I wanted, I adhered them down permanently.

Finally, I accented around the sentiment with my signature iridescent jewels. And to finish I brushed the unicorn mane/tail and the florals with a midas touch Tonic Aqua Shimmer pen. You can't really see the shimmer in the photos, but it is really pretty in real life! :)

Well, that is what I have for you today! I hope that you will join in on the January challenge fun over at Pinkfresh Studio! And be sure to grab our January Featured Products at a great price!  I do update my Crafty Sales page with the latest promos as I get them, so be sure to check it out throughout the week. Before you move along with your day, I wanted to invite you to follow me on social media. I hang out on Instagram a lot, and share my work in progress in my stories...along with REALLY cute photos of my dogs! :) And of course, I would love for you to subscribe to my YouTube Channel. My channel has been pretty quiet recently - but I just got my new lights dialed in, and my craft studio organization is almost complete! My goal is to add a new video every 2 weeks, and you can expect my first video...tomorrow!

INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | FACEBOOK

I hope that you have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

SUPPLY LIST
For your shopping convenience, all products are linked below. {Includes affiliate linking where possible - this allows small compensation for me at no cost to you. Never fear - I will only ever link to products that I truly love & use!}