All of these folks are incredibly inspiring. I hope you're thinking about what we can be doing better, what we can be doing more of. One of these areas that I think has really developed in the time that I've been at SoCAP is the conversation, this is not gonna sound exciting, about policy. And policy is a hugely important lever as we build this field, and it's a big piece of how we can do better and really do that at scale and do it in amazing ways. I get scared of these conversations. There are very smart people in this community who are working on this every day. And this year was the first time that I was on a conversation, a conference call earlier this year, and I heard about this policy, and it just clicked for me, the way that some of the things that our next group is gonna talk about really completely shift and move huge amounts of capital into projects in all sorts of regions of the United States, of the world, and I'm really excited for you to hear about this because it isn't something that I'm guessing the majority of folks in this room are focusing on most of the time. So consider this your 20 minutes of policy update, and you will be totally up to speed on policy in the impact investing world. They probably don't like that I'm setting that high bar. But listen closely, and please welcome to the stage Jim Sorenson, Jeremy Keele, and Andy Phillips. So good morning, everybody. It's really wonderful to be here. So we've all had an amazing couple of days, or maybe it actually hasn't been a couple of days, but feels like it's been a couple of days, really talking about social enterprises, impact investing, and really about how you can use capital in all of its forms to drive change in disadvantaged communities, improve the environment, and really lead to broad social impact. There is a key player, though, that often gets left out of these conversations, and that's government. And I think part of it is because, as Lindsay was saying, we all think, ugh, policy. That's not where the interesting work happens. That's about government and a morass in Washington. But if you step back and think about it, government globally, and certainly in the US, is probably the largest purchaser of services for the poor. The White House under Obama estimated that purchasing power at about $800 billion. Steve Ballmer, with his USA Facts, puts it more at maybe a trillion dollars. That's a lot of money flowing out into trying to change the lives of disadvantaged communities. Policy and government also play a critical role in creating an enabling environment to allow all of us to do the work that we do. And so what we wanna do in this panel is really talk today about some very concrete things that are currently happening in Washington. There's a broad group of people, the US Alliance for Impact Investing, the global steering group that are working on these policy issues. But today we have two of the people who are really on the ground and trying to make things happen in Washington. So, Jim and Jeremy, it's great to be here with you. I wanna ask Jeremy to kick it off and talk about the two initiatives that you're working on right now that have really begun to get some traction. Great, thanks Andy, it's good to be here. So just, I would preface this by saying that it's a nice coincidence that Richard Thaler won the economic prize, or sorry, the Nobel Prize in Economics, sorry, this week. For some of his insights into how policy can actually provide really sort of low cost behavioral nudges that gets incentives to line up really nicely in the private sector and the public sector. And these are the kinds of insights that have actually led to some of the policies that we're talking about today. So I'll just really briefly kind of describe these two pieces of concrete legislation that are working their way through the Congress right now that we've been involved with. One is called the Social Impact Partnership Act and it would basically create a $300 million fund at the U.S. Treasury that would repay investors, private investors who have invested into social programs that have measurably performed or measurably improved outcomes in the communities that they're targeting. What's really powerful and meaningful about this is that it would create really for the first time a mechanism for the federal government to pay for positive outcomes that relate to the federal government budget alongside state and local stakeholders. We've been living in an environment for those folks that have been working in the impact bond space, the impact financing space. We've been working in an environment which is effectively a market failure situation where local and state governments have had to pick up the full cost of these really successful performing programs even though in a lot of cases a significant amount of the financial savings or economic benefit from those programs actually accrues to the federal government. So this would be the first time we'd be able to actually change that. It would be game changing in the sense that you would have the ability to do a lot of deals in particular in public health related programs where most of the savings do in fact flow to the federal government if you think about cancer screening, diabetes treatment, asthma interventions. Those kinds of things can't happen right now at scale because the economics just don't work currently. So this fund would effectively solve that problem. So that's exciting. The other piece of legislation that we've been actively working on is called the Investing in Opportunities Act which basically creates a capital gains deferral scheme that allows investors to continue to defer capital gains on the investments that they've made so long as they invest that money into what are called opportunity zones which would basically be census tracks in each of the 50 states that are designated by the governors in each of those states as being communities that have been sort of largely passed over from a private investment perspective. So this would be again sort of a really powerful but low cost policy nudge that would direct up to $2.3 trillion if you can imagine. That's the total size of the pool of funds that would be eligible for this program. That's not to say that all of that money would flow but that's the total size of the pool but that would create a mechanism for a big chunk of that money to start to flow into some of these communities around the country that have really been passed over from an investment perspective. Great, that's really, really exciting and really interesting on all fronts. So Jim, I've had the pleasure of talking to you and Jeremy about this over the last couple months and you both are pretty optimistic that these are gonna get across the finish line and I'd love to hear you talk a little bit about your perspective on why that is in Washington and maybe sort of how you think that these can get moved forward. Well, I think it's really been great to be involved in this because frankly, these are really bipartisan issues. We find that they resonate with both Republicans and Democrats and one of the areas that they can work together in a policy change that I think really addresses kind of core issues with both of the parties. And in the case of the Investment in Opportunity Act, there are about 70 bipartisan congressmen and senators that have lined up to support that legislation and in fact, it's been presented to President Trump and he really likes the legislation. So those are really good signs as it relates to the SIPA legislation. Again, very good bipartisan support. These are issues that the Democrats feel strongly about and I think a much better way of allocating social services in the eyes of Republicans. So good bipartisan support and in speaking with, I had the opportunity to speak with Speaker Ryan and some of the Senator cosponsors, Senator Hatt, Senator Young, Congressman Delaney, all of them are very, well I would say confident that this legislation will ultimately pass this year. So hopefully, this comes together. The vehicle's been set for this. I think it's a good vehicle in terms of it being the chip reauthorization. That's something that will need to be passed by the end of the year and it seems to have pretty good momentum. Well, that's incredibly exciting. I know that last year, you guys or we, I should say, got very close to making this happen. So hopefully as we sort of move forward, we'll really get another win. So those are two very real opportunities that are being looked at in real time. What do you see on the horizon when you think about the next area of policy that we ought to be focusing on collectively? Maybe I'll start in if Jim has thoughts. I'd love to hear those as well. But I think there's some interesting things happening here in the US clearly. There are some interesting things happening in other countries. And when you reference the global steering group and when you think about that as a platform for sort of cross-border learning about what's happening in the policy environments in each of these different countries that are focused on, again, sort of creating the regulatory or enabling environments that will facilitate and stimulate private investment into the social sector, I think there was a lot of opportunity to sort of learn from other countries what they're doing. There are some things in the UK and in Japan around capital wholesalers, so public-private partnerships where some public money flows in, but also attracting some private capital to take some concessionary positions in investments, social investments in those countries. I think that's a really interesting idea. Other countries have been more progressive around relaxing fiduciary duties for institutional fund managers, so pension fund managers that are bound by traditional fiduciary duties to their shareholders and their investors. Other countries have just been more progressive about sort of letting those fund managers factor impact into their investment decisions. Like the Netherlands is the best example. They have something like three trillion dollars or three trillion euros under management with a view towards addressing the SDGs. So those are pension fund managers in the Netherlands that have the ability to really factor the SDGs into their investment decisions. That's pretty powerful. In France, they have a 10% carve-out rule, so the fiduciary duty applies to 90% of the portfolio of these managers, but there's a 10% carve-out where they can, in fact, factor impact into their decision-making. So there's some ideas there that could potentially be brought to bear here in the US, but I think what's interesting, and this goes to Jim's point, is that there's incredible inertia and momentum in the Congress, and I would argue even within the administration itself, although it's early days there still, but real opportunity with, I would say, kind of a small cadre of 30 or 40 centrist thought leaders on both the Democratic and the Republican sides who are just really, really interested in all the concepts that we're talking about here at SOCAP and thinking about ways that they can pull policy levers in Washington to facilitate and incent the deployment of private capital to get better results in the social sector. That to me is an opportunity that we all have to take very seriously, just because if you're thinking of catalytic opportunities of ways that you can really sort of move the needle, as Andy said at the outset, this is really, government's just a big part of the equation that you really ought to factor in. So Jim, do you have anything to add to that in terms of what you see on the horizon as the next big thing? I think there are a couple of other areas. I'm a firm believer of program-related investments in terms of their capability to really catalyze and be used as a tool to crowd in capital, and not many foundations use them because there isn't a lot of clarity around the IRS regulations surrounding them. And I think that there needs to be more and could be more clarity and perhaps some type of a safe harbor so that foundations would be able to engage more in making that very catalytic, early-stage capital and investment. I think that's one area. I know that the Impact Investing Alliance is very engaged in this area, and in fact, next week in Washington, D.C., they've organized a congressional roundtable where there will be several senators there and congressmen that I think this will be part of an education for them about impact investing and about this movement and what's happening and the importance of this legislation, that'll be a part of it, but there will also be a discussion about other areas that hopefully will lead to policy discussions that ultimately lead to good policy in the future. Well, that's really exciting and it's nice to hear that there's some concrete action. I would echo what you said about PRIs. I think they're an incredibly powerful tool, yet sort of so boxed in by all the rules that are not particularly clear and so that would be a really exciting mechanism to be set free. So I do wanna circle back to something that I feel like we sort of let go as you were talking about getting this legislation passed. So I have to say, in my experience when Speaker Ryan started showing his support for social impact bonds and pay for success, which is the work I've been doing for about the last five or six years, I was a little shocked because I never expected to agree with Speaker Ryan on anything and I'm guessing that there may be other people in this room who also felt that way. I would love to hear from you because I know you've had conversations with Speaker Ryan about this. What do you think it is that he finds compelling and not to put you on the spot or him on the spot, but really I think I'm intrigued by this notion of bipartisan support for this work and particularly in these days of a lot of complicated things. There's a euphemism happening in Washington that this is a very small area where we're having some progress and success. Yeah, my sense that he really is very interested, I would say almost passionate about this notion that we're not getting what we should from the dollars that are being spent or allocated in social services, that they're not measured, they're not focused on outcomes and really pretty inefficient. And so this is all in his mind and I think in the mind of many, a better way to reform and to bring better practice and performance measurement and really innovation to how social services are spent. And social impact bonds, pay for success initiatives, whatever you wanna call them, I think they see as a really great device to be able to do that, but they see it as part of really an overall reform that needs to take place in how social services are procured and delivered and measured. Well, that's exciting. A little shocking and exciting. Anything you'd add to that, Jeremy, in terms of the bipartisan nature? No, I think Jim said it well. I think that when we first met Speaker Ryan on this, one of the more memorable quotes was him saying that he would like to see the entire social sector sort of transformed into something that is more results oriented and more measured. And that really sort of resonates with us because we tend to agree. And it's not to say that nothing's working out there, but it is to say that we don't do a lot in the way of measuring how effective what we're doing actually is. And so I think there's a lot of alignment there. And again, just to reiterate the point that Democrats see this concept and say, we're spending money on social services. We want to help folks. Let's make sure that spending is actually getting us the bang for the buck that we hope it does. And then Republicans saying, let's not waste money. If we're going to be spending money to address social problems, let's make sure that we're actually spending those dollars effectively. So there's just a really sort of nice kind of overlapping Venn diagram style sort of consensus on this. And I think it's, in a gridlocked Washington on so many other issues, this is a real sort of focal point where you can make some progress, I think over the next few years. Well, it's really exciting. And I think just the work that I know you too as individuals has done, I know that Jim, there have been key moments in all of this when you have been willing to pick up the phone and make a call to people that you've had long-term relationships with that has been invaluable, but also the work of the Impact Investing Alliance has really been there as well. So very, very exciting. And I would hope that the sort of group here at SoCAP can be tapped into to help provide support for this area that we can move forward. So we have two minutes left and Jim requested that we open up for questions. So I'm going to open up for questions because there's been a lot of talking at you. So who has a question? Oh, I'm going to call on somebody. There we go. I'm going to give you a mic so you can ask your question. I just want to challenge this idea. I know it's popular. I know it has bipartisan support that social services are inefficient. They need to be optimized. And those of us who are in the social service sector, we work our hearts out to do just that. We respond to that. And yet, we don't get any credit for it. In fact, that critique comes up over and over again. And when I benchmark the work of my organization to private for-profit companies, I see that we're far more efficient in the way we're using money and the way we steward money. And yet, the social service sector doesn't get credit for that. So I just want to challenge that assertion. Thank you for that. And if you two will indulge me as the moderator, I'm going to respond. So I think the idea behind pay for success and social impact bonds is actually to help redirect dollars to social service organizations that are high performing. I have run a social service organization. I am the recipient of social services for my son who is severely disabled. And what people are talking about here is not to undermine social services. And in fact, oftentimes when you talk to other human service leaders, they welcome the idea of paying for performance. Muzzy Rosenblatt is incredibly articulate on this. He runs a game-changing homeless services organization in New York City. And what he will say is the hardest work he does is bringing someone into the shelter and helping transition them to permanent housing. Yet his contract with the city pays him to keep people in a bed. He would rather if he got paid to get people into permanent housing. So while I hear what you're saying, I hope what you can do is sort of open your mind that this is a way of helping free service organizations up from some of the compliance burden and some of the ticking the boxes. I can't tell you how many times I personally have met with a social worker and have had to sign my name on an attendance sheet because I went to that meeting on behalf of my son and nothing has happened. I would much rather have the service provider be held accountable for helping him get the services he needs. So I think that is the context from where this is coming. So other questions? I think we're out of time. Nope, we're out of time. Thank you so much everybody. Thank you, Jim and Jeremy. You're welcome. Thank you.


10 mega-projects were shaping Ghana's economy 2023. Ghana has recently begun a number of important mega-projects, including both buildings and infrastructure. These are evidence of the accomplishments of both local experts and collaborations with foreign businesses. Investment in Africa as a whole is at an all-time high, and as a developing country. Ghana is focusing on infrastructure expansion to promote socioeconomic development and increase productivity across the board. For the next 10 years, the yearly financing need for infrastructure is projected to be $125 billion, and players from the public and commercial sectors are coming up with creative solutions to close this gap. Because of this, the growth of both privately funded infrastructure and public-private partnerships has become more dependent on project financing. Over the past 20 years, Ghana's infrastructure has changed gradually, supporting the country's economic and developmental advancement. With estimates showing a continual development in the trend to correspond with the country's defined infrastructure goals, the infrastructural base has seen considerable expenditures. A renewed focus on infrastructure projects, including real estate investment projects, train constructions, and road development projects, has been observed during the past year by both the public and private sectors. Indeed, the Ghanaian construction industry is booming. Do you have a lingering doubt? Then, learn about these 10 amazing construction projects that are changing Ghana. 10. Western Rail Line Slash Takaradi, Kumasi Railway Line Project. The 339-kilometer railway line from Takaradi Port in Ghana's western region to Kumasi in the southern region, with a branch line from Dakhwap to Owasso, is currently being renovated as part of this project. The nearly $1 billion project entails the rehabilitation of over 200 bridges and culverts, as well as a total of 38 stations, two terminals, and other infrastructure. Along with the rebuilding of the workshops and running sheds, among other amenities, cutting-inch telecommunication and signaling systems will also be installed. The rehabilitation of the railway line, which is essential for transporting agricultural products and minerals from the middle belt to Takaradi Port, is under the control of the Ghana Railway Development Authority, GRDA. Key box-eight mines, the foundation of the nation's integrated box-eight aluminum master plan, are also located there. 9. Kumasi Paga Central Spine Rail Project. The Kumasi Paga Railway Project, often referred to as the Central Spine Railway Project, entails building about 559 kilometers of rail to connect Kumasi in the center of Ghana to Paga in the north, near the Burkina Faso border. The project, which aligns with the 2013 railway master plan and will be finished soon, would enhance Ghana's rail and logistics infrastructure as a component of a comprehensive transportation system. Additionally, it will aid in lowering transportation costs and improving customer services, particularly for trade going to and from Ghana's hinterland, its northern areas, and the Sahelian nations. Additionally, it is anticipated to ease the movement of people and goods from Ghana's southern to northern regions, as well as from there to Burkina Faso and the Sahelian region. 8. Construction of National Cathedral of Ghana in Ikra. The Ghana National Cathedral Project involves building an interdenominational Christian cathedral with a number of chapels, a baptistery, a music school, a choir rehearsal, a grand central hall, and a two-level auditorium with 5,000 seats on a 14-acre landscaped plot next to Osu Cemetery in Ikra. The new National Cathedral of Ghana will also have after its first Bible Museum and Documentation Center in addition to an art gallery, a store, multi-use areas, and other amenities. A new ceremonial road and environment will connect it to the most notable sites in the capital city, including the Independence Square, Osu Cemetery, State House, and African Unity Circle. 7. The Signature Luxury Apartments Project. The signature is a project for luxury apartments being undertaken in the newly developed neighborhood of Shiishi in East Lichen, close to the Tete Korshi interchange and across from the Ikram Hall. It is being developed by CAPEMNY Properties, a full-service real estate company focused on delivering quality buildings at competitive prices, good rental yield for investors, and excellent customer service. The proposal includes building studios on two and three-bedroom apartments, as well as a four-bedroom penthouse with a private pool. It has facilities like a gym and steam room, rooftop pool and bar, Balight and Yotva Studio, basketball court, bowling alley, cafe, movie theater, spa, children's playground, grocery stores, concierge service, 24-hour security, and CCTV to name a few. 6. Patronia City Project. Patronia City is a proposed 2,000-acre city development project that aims to create the first fully integrated business center for the oil, gas, and mining industries in the West African region by providing residential, office, industrial, commercial, leisure, and hospitality spaces. It is located about eight kilometers from Taqeradi, the capital of Ghana's Western region. In response to the 2007 oil finding and subsequent increase in socioeconomic activity in the region, the project was established to address the aforementioned infrastructural deficiency in Ghana's Western region. Ghanaian serial entrepreneur Nanaquem Bediyako and British multi-millionaire real estate developer Azad Kola, who owns the famed Westbury Hotel and is working on the construction, have formed a joint company called Wanda World Estates. The Patronia City, hosted by the Beihun and Yebu communities in Ghana's Ahanta West District, is scheduled to be built out in three stages over the course of ten years. 5. Akhran Sawam Railway Project. Akhran Sawam Railway Project consists of upgrading the narrow gauge railway line that connects the two towns, which are roughly 43 kilometers apart, into a standard gauge railway line. It was developed by Ghana Railway Development Authority, GRDA, in collaboration with the Ministry for Railway Development. The work is being done by RPG Group, the second largest producer of electric power transmission towers in India and one of the biggest engineering procurement and construction firms in the world through its flagship company, KEC International Limited. 4. Apollonia City Development Project. A new metropolis worth $250 million is being built in the greater Akhran metropolitan area on a 23-25 acre plot of land between the villages of Woyebi and Afinia, about 20 kilometers to the east of Akhran. The project is quickly emerging as the go-to location for businesses and individuals looking for a healthier environment outside of across congested city limits. It offers a place to live, work, shop, entertain, relax, and much more, all in a well-designed natural setting with the highest infrastructural standards. Apollonia City is being constructed by Rendavor, Africa's largest city developer with more than 30,000 acres of forward-thinking projects in the growth paths of significant cities in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 3. Ghana International Trade Fair Center Redevelopment Project. The goal of this project is to transform the 140-acre site of the Ghana International Trade Fair Center into a new, cutting-edge, mixed-use, sustainable commercial estate. The World Economic Forum, Africa's Convention Center, and exhibition halls will be developed as the first part of the project, which will be completed in phases. Phase II of the Ghana International Trade Fair Center Redevelopment Project will contain amenities, including five-star hotels, upscale shopping centers, and other residential and commercial construction. Along with a made-in-Gana trade hub that will support small and medium-sized businesses, this new location will also house a technological hub that will act as a commercial research and high-end manufacturing center to support the government's industrialization drive into the 21st century. The Ghana Commerce Fair Company, which was established to support Ghana's post-independence commerce and industrialization initiatives, is in charge of leading the project. The company is well positioned to market and exhibit Ghana's products in order to draw in investors. 2. Marine Drive Acra Project. The Marine Drive Acra Project is a 241-acre waterfront redevelopment plan for Accra that extends from Independence Square to the coast and culminates in a coastal overlook with expansive dramatic scenery across the Gulf of Guinea. The project will transform this waterfront into a new public infrastructure with commercial exhibition centers, offices, a beach soccer field, recreational and retail facilities. The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. among other notable structures were designed by Sir David Ajai, a Gannigan British architect who heads AJ Associates, a firm with studios in Accra, London and New York. The project is being developed by Ghana's Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. The project's primary goal is to use the tourism industry as a revolutionary economic force for the benefit of the people and nation of West Africa. 1. Accra SkyTrain Project A fully automated, elevated light rail metro system called Accra SkyTrain is being developed in Greater Accra, Ghana with the goal of serving the city of Accra. The network will feature five routes, including one that loops around the center of the city and four radial routes that start at a new terminal at the Quain and Cruma interchange. 194 kilometers of track are used for all routes. The Gannigan government and the South African ASCII train consortium signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2018 and in November 2019 when a feasibility study was finished, the parties inked a build-operate-transfer concession deal. According to reports, the technology will be developed by the ASCII train consortium for an estimated US dollar, 2.6 billion. Ghana has a financing need for infrastructure of roughly 0.4 billion dollars annually, primarily in the areas of power and water. As a result of its recent oil discoveries, Ghana can improve public spending via increasing tax revenues. The nation has a strong economic foundation on which to grow, as well as a number of promising regions on which to build. If you enjoyed the video, please subscribe and turn on post notifications because we have more fascinating videos on fashion and large-scale building projects in Africa on the way.


The first two best ranger competitions in 1982 and 1983 were held as competitions between teams from each of the three ranger department camps. I honestly just wanted to compete with the best of the best around the army. You know it's such a historic competition and you know it's one of the hardest across all branches and you know that's something I felt like I really wanted to do and continue to do throughout my career. Competition, it's about being in the arena you know so it's about challenging yourself and not just being a standard by and just watching everybody else do something bigger and better. It's about pushing ourselves farther than anybody else can. Think consistency, just making sure that every day you have the same output. I mean training for four and a half months with somebody it's a lot so you just got to make sure that you're focused and doing what we got to do. Be the guy that asks for all his advice you know how to you know the shortcut just go. It's easier than you think it is. You just got to do it, motivate yourself and for a best ranger I mean you just got to send it. Come out, have a good time. It's really not that bad. Like all the suck is there for sure but you get to make some really good friends, get to have a lot of good training, a lot of good experience and when you get back I promise it's going to all be worth it. People recognize hard work when you put out. Just prepare yourself you know how that discipline, lots of mileage, lots of shooting but it's definitely here. I know you only get three times to compete so they constantly need new faces so you got nothing to lose just come out and keep trying. I just expect to come out here and perform you know like we practice so you know whatever happens happens it's in God's hands now and I have a great training partner so I just hope that you know everything that we've gone over you know just comes out to fruition now. I wanted to challenge myself and bring out the best in myself as well as it's just something I've always had my eye on. This is before I joined all my other books about it and what not so it just seemed like you know the best proving ground for me at the time. Seeing my old platoon sergeant competing before is Staff Sergeant First Class Mercado. He came in second and I wanted to like you know get to that level as well that made me want to compete. I would say put in the work put in the time for it. Don't veer off your training commit to it and trust the process. Well we did like we did okay at night stakes which kind of like slow rolled into day stakes but then we picked it up and we probably picked up a few spots so hopefully we can go strong and land out and make the final cut. Who said on the fields a friendly striker or sown the seeds but another days on other fields will bear the fruits of victory. Over the next three days regardless of which team wins help each ranger see how their efforts contribute to a greater victory for the ranger community our military and our nation. Amen.


Γεια σας και κατασταφή back to the second part of my one release 10 cards video. I posted yesterday 5 cards using products from the latest release by Altenew and today I'm going to post 5 more. I'm going to work with the always there stamp set from the latest release. It's a gorgeous layering flower stamp set and there are also matching dies. And here is the leaflet with lots of ideas on how you can use this stamp set and I love that in the stamp set you get the outline of the flowers as well as sole stamps for doing the layering and there are also lots of sentiments. I'm using my misty here to do all the stamping and I'm starting with the outlines of the flowers and the leaves. I'm going to take this piece out and bring in another one so that I can stamp one more time. I need the smaller flower one more time and I also need a couple of leaves more. At this stage I don't know how many of the leaves I will need for my flower composition so I like to have enough. Now I will continue with the layers just like I did with all the rest of the layering cards that I shared yesterday. So I'm starting with the first solid layer to cover up completely the leaves and you can see how convenient it is since I can stamp twice without having to move anything. Now I'm going to layer the second stamp and then I will go with the darker shade of green and I'm getting some lovely shadows at the center of my leaves. Now I will continue doing the same thing for the rest of the leaves and then I will move on to color the flowers using again the layers. For the first two flowers I'm going with purple shades and for the other flower I will use orange and yellows. And here are all my stamped images now I'm going to use the matching dies to cut them out. For all the ink ink that I did I used oval sets by Altenew since they make my life so easy and I will list all the oval sets that I used down below the description area. Now I'm working on a panel that is 4.25 x 5.5 and at the bottom of it I'm going to stick this strip of paper in black and white. Now I will decide where all the flowers are going to go just to have an idea of where everything will end up and then I will stamp the sentiment. My sentiment says start your day with a smile on your face and it comes from a set that I used yesterday with those potted plants. And now it's time to put everything together. For some of the flowers and the leaves I will use tape adhesive at the back and stick them completely flat on my card base and for others I'm using foam squares to add dimension. Now to finish off my card I'm going to add a few of those gems these are the June crystals by Studio Katia and I love how they match the color of my flowers. And here is the finished card using this gorgeous stamp set which is very easy to use in terms of layering it's very forgiving. Here's another new product it's called Layer Snowflakes Die and it's a set of five dies in between those snowflakes you will get so many different designs for your cards and other projects that probably you won't need any other snowflake dies. The fun thing is that you can actually layer them one on top of the other to create a beautiful focal point which is exactly what I'm going to do today using this silver cardstock by Tonic Studios and I will link that below and I will combine it with some glitter paper that I have here I don't know if you can see how shiny this is again from Tonic Studios and I'm going to link to that as well. So I'm grabbing all the snowflakes here to die cut them now I want to alternate the cardstock so the first layer I wanted to be white the second silver and so on and so forth so I'm using the layering guide here and deciding where each of those snowflakes will go. After running them through my big shoot here are all the snowflakes and they are so gorgeous and you can use them of course separately However I'm sticking with the plan and for the first two layers I'm going to use foam squares to stick them together this way I will add some dimension but for the next three layers I'm going with glue so I'm going to alternate again white silver white silver and I'm also following the guide on the side so here is the fourth layer and I'm adding glue at the center of my snowflake and finally the last layer and you will end up with a gorgeous snowflake with lots of shine and lots of dimension. Now with such a gorgeous focal point I'm not going to do too much for the background I'm using this blue cardstock and I'm going to add some splashes this is white jesso that I have diluted with water and with the thin brush I'm adding some splashes all over and I'm adding lots of splashes I'm actually going to town here just because I wanted to look as if it's snowing at the background Now I have created my card base out of the silver cardstock that I used for the snowflakes so I have some shine all around I'm stinking the panel on top the blue panel and then on top again I'm going to stick the focal point at the back I'm going to add some glue you can go with foam squares but you will end up with a too bulky of a card For the sentiment that I cut the word wishes which comes from the whole descript towards die and I actually used the glitter white cardstock to cut it out Now let's move on to another festive stamp set from this release this is called peace love joy and it gives you all those designs that you can stamp one on top of the other again a layering stamp set to create those beautiful embellishments now of course you can use them as they are you don't have to stamp one on top of the other and I will show you an example but let's take a look at the leaflet and see how gorgeous these turn out if you mix different colors but for my card today I'm going to use all three of these designs without doing any layering I want to keep everything red and white just have that a scandy look and feel on my card so I'm going with ruby red I'm going to stamp the star and the heart and I will also fit in that little snowflake and it's always nice to use a misty or any other stamping platform because with these solid images it's always nice to stamp them twice now I have used my matching dies to cut them out and as you can see I'm using my crop a dial to add holes on each of those cutouts this way I'm going to turn them into ornaments I'm also going to add a red eyelet I had this in my stash for so long I remember back in the days when eyelets and even brads were super popular to work with and we were adding them in pretty much every card now I'm going to thread through those holes some twine in white and red I'm securing the twine at the back with some double-sided tape of course you can use scotch tape that's what I had close by and one of the favorite combinations of mine for Christmas cards is craft white and red so that's what I'm going for here again for the craft background I did some splashes just like I did for the previous card with jesso and I'm using some foam squares at the back of my ornaments I'm going to stick them there now for two of the ornaments I'm going with foam squares for the heart I'm going with tape adhesive at the back so you can see I ended up with a really gorgeous design and it's a different take on this layering stamp set so use your layering stamp sets with the layers as they are but also use them without layering and you will end up with equally beautiful cards now I'm going to add this panel with foam tape at the back on top of my card base for my sentiment I went with peace love joy from the same stamp set and I completed my card by adding some white dots with my nuvo drops now here is another new stamp set which is called brilliant bubbles and you can see how gorgeous this is another layering stamp set where you can end up with six different ornaments again for this stamp set there are matching dyes available if you want to grab them and let's take a look at the leaflet for more inspiration so here are some examples on how you can layer your stamps how you can go monochromatic or go completely crazy with your colors and how you can put them all together now I'm going to stamp one of my ornaments and I'm using a ruby red and then I will stamp a second layer with a darker shade now of course with this stamp set you can recreate the design of the previous card and for this card I will try and do something completely different so here I am preparing my card for embossing and for the third layer I will go with the VersaMark ink and then I am going to apply some white embossing powder I'm going to heat set it and here is my beautiful embellishment after dye cutting with the matching dye now I'm going to cut these three letters out of this gold cardstock this is mirror cardstock by nuvo and I'm also going to cut out this tiny little piece which is the part of where you hang the ornament now the three letters come from a new dye set which is called classic alphabet it comes with all the letters of the alphabet in a big size and here are all my cutouts ready to go I have created a long card this fits in a standard business envelope and it's nine by three and a half so you have to cut out a piece nine by seven and just fold it in half now I'm going to use my ruler here just to make sure that I am going to stick everything completely straight and I will go with my glue and stick everything down now to spread out all those elements correctly I like to add the first letter and the last letter first and then I will fill in the gaps with the rest of the elements and instead of using the letter O I'm going to use my ornament in its place and since I cannot keep anything flat I do have to add some foam squares at the back of the ornament to add my dimension and of course you can hang the ornament with a twine like I did in the previous card you can leave this card as it is but I'm going to take it a step further and I will use these thumps that I showcased yesterday I stamped some leaves and some berries and I'm going to use the matching dyes to cut them out so that I can use them and embellish some of the letters just to make it more festive looking and to add some green on my card this way I end up having a very traditional combination with reds greens and some gold now I have cut out these thin strips of cardstock this is the same gold cardstock as the one that I used for the letters and I'm using my ruler to make sure that these are nice and straight just to add a line down there since I thought that it was complimenting my whole card I'm going to cut off the excess and this is the finished card and I have to admit that this is my favorite card of all the 10 that I shared using the new release and now let's move on to the last card for today I will be showcasing this new stamp set which is called candle light and as you can see you can use layers to create this candle the little fire as well as the lights there are a bunch of different sentiments that you can use for birthday cards for sympathy cards or even for sending prayers cards and as always in the stamp set you will get the leaflet to give you more ideas on how you can put everything together different color combos and I'm going to share a birthday card so I'm going to work with the candle the candle consists of three different layers for the first layer I'm going with a lighter color and I will move on to the middle and to the darker color and as you can see I'm going for a rainbow themed card here so I'm stamping the same candle again and again with different color combos each time now I'm using the third layer that adds the darker shadow on the right side of the candle and I will continue doing the same thing for all the rest of the candles I used the matching die to cut out all my six candles and now I'm going to stamp the week on top by using black ink now I'm going to stamp the flames six of them and instead of using my misty I'm just using a stamping block there since I think it is quicker now for the rest of the layers I'm going to move on to a middle color and then to a darker one it doesn't really matter if I don't align everything completely straight it is quite forgiving and I will be using the die to cut it out so it's going to look perfect at the end here I have a small white panel where I'm going to stamp my sentiment and for that I'm going with happy birthday and I combined one more sentiment from the same stamp set such as the more candles the bigger the wish now for some of the candles I have foam tape at the back to add dimension and others I'm going to stick them directly on top of my panel so they will lay completely flat now I need to make sure that I align them in rainbow order and I need to also pay attention on how far up the candles can go since I need to stick the flames on top I created my card base out of blue cardstock that matches one of my candles and of course you can use pretty much any color of the rainbow for your card base and to finish it off I'm adding some glitter or my flames and here is my finished birthday card with all those shiny flames and here are all the five cards that I made for today using products from the latest release by Altenew if you haven't seen the other five cards that I shared yesterday make sure to do so you will find the link at the end of this video don't forget to let me know which one of those five cards was your favorite thank you all so much for watching and have a lovely weekend