Fresh Aqua Climbers

Here's another card using a combination of Altenew layering dies and Memory Box solid cardstock.

supplies: white cardstock, solid papers from Memory Box Fresh Aqua and Lush Green collections, Altenew Climber Flowers layering dies, a patchwork embossing folder, and sentiment label sticker from Tim Holtz

This floral layering die set is easy to put together; it reminds me of Morning Glories a little bit.  This time I placed it over an ancient embossing folder for more fun texture, and then just used a sentiment sticker to finish.

This pad of aqua tones is another lovely one from Memory Box; it contains 12 different shades of this lovely color!

Hope your Sunday is a lovely one!  Thanks for stopping by. 

Spellbinders Glimmer Essentials collection!

 I was kindly treated to a new hot foil plate set from the Glimmer Essentials line.  Here's a card I made with it, also using the new Mini Rainbow Stripe glimmer foil that was in my package.  The bright happy colors of this foil are perfect for a birthday card!

supplies: white  and a green foiled cardstock, Spellbinders Essential Duo Lines Ovals Hot Foil Plates, Mini Rainbow Stripe glimmer foil,  Glimmer Hot Foil machine, flowers and leaves dies from an April 2019 Small Die of the Month set

I chose a medium oval from this glimmer hot foil set and foiled it with the stripes going horizontally over white cardstock.  The Happy Birthday plate, included with my machine when I bought it last year, was foiled with the stripes going vertically.  Next I applied more of the foil to a sticky-backed cardstock, then cut out my flowers and layered them, separating the layers with adhesive foam.  

I've always been drawn to ovals, but don't have many, so I'm thrilled to have this now going forward!  The set has 8 different sizes, which can be used alone or combined any way you'd like!

I have 1 more little bonus card today to better show you the new Mini Rainbow Stripe glimmer foil.  

supplies: white and aqua shimmer cardstock, Spellbinder's Floral Embossing Folder, Scattered Hearts Glimmer Plate, Mini Rainbow Stripe Glimmer foil, Hemstitch Rectangle die, and a (retired) sentiment from Tammy Tutterow's Sentiments 2 cling stamps and matching dies, markers to color letters

Glimmer is a perfect description for the way these foils work - always a lovely soft effect!  

Thanks for stopping by today!

Simon Says........Happy Birthday

 

Happy Wednesday - welcome to our challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog!

It's Birthday #12 for this Wednesday challenge, and so of course, we'd like to see some birthday creations!  The team will be featuring our very own Simon Says Stamp products.  I have 2 cards today.

supplies: white and Surf Blue cardstock, Simon You Have My Heart floral, Detail Ringlet Plate die, and sentiment from Big Scripty Greetings, adhesive foam squares

After cutting out the floral spray, I added a light blue to the inside of the spray so that it looked better against the blue background.  The sentiment was stamped BEFORE I cut the background panel; this gives a better stamped image than if I'd tried to stamp after I'd die-cut the design.

It took me months to get this next embossing folder home, so here's another birthday card.  The folder is one of the new 3D folders that Simon is now making, and it's a keeper!

supplies: white and yellow cardstock, Simon Floral Field embossing folder, white pigment ink, Tim Holtz Sentiments Label sticker and Wildflower Stems 1 die, Hero Arts Nesting Rectangle dies, sparkly enamel hearts, adhesive foam

First I cut a small rectangle out of an A2 sized yellow panel, then reinserted it, and embossed them both at one time  The next step was to lightly rub some white pigment ink onto both pieces in a circular motion, to bring out the wonderful details of the folder.  Because there's a deeper impression made with these 3D folders, it's quite simple to lightly rub on ink directly from the inkpad.

The small rectangle was framed in white, and added to the larger "frame", now affixed to my card base.  Then I cut my daisy silhouettes, put a heart in the center of each, and added my sentiment.

Now it's your turn!  Because it's a special day, we have 2 prizes for 2 lucky winners this week: one will receive a $50.00 gift certificate to the Simon Says Stamp store, and the other will get a May Card Kit, which will be released next Wednesday! 

I can't wait to see what you all make!

Sweet Friend

 Simon restocked their Memory Box solid paper pads recently and I grabbed a couple more color-ways of them before they sold out again.  Here's a card using the Vibrant Violet collection, which ranges from mauvy pinks to pinky purples.  They are scrumptious colors!

supplies: white, black, Memory Box papers from Vibrant Violets, Lush Greens, and a pale yellow from Sunny Oranges collection pads, Altenew Garden Picks layering dies, sentiment from Wplus9 Hand Lettered Hello, Sunny Studio Lattice Frilly Frame dies, adhesive foam squares

The main flowers use 4 shades of a color, so I mixed up various shades leaning towards pink, and used the purples for the tinier flowers.  After arranging everything to my liking I used a sheet of Press 'n' Seal to hold it together, then flipped it and added foam squares to the reverse.  Then I just placed it over my lattice background, peeled away the Press 'n' Seal, and added my sentiment.

Using these papers for layering dies are exactly why I got these solid paper pads, and I am really impressed with the lovely range of colors in each one!  They are a little more expensive than other pads, but you get 4 sheets of each of 12 shades of color in each one, so I think it's a fair price.

Thanks so much for coming by today.

Friendly Flowers

Happy Easter - He has risen!! 

The Friendly Flowers stamp set from the Simon Says Stamp April Card Kit is full of floral goodness!  I wanted to make something with the large spray of flowers.

supplies: Lavender and Cream cardstock, Friendly Flowers spray and sentiment stamps, markers to color, sequins

I don't do well coloring large images like the main flowers, so today I left them cream and accented them with an edging of cream with green centers.  As I said recently, my preference has always been cream over stark whites, so having this lovely cream cardstock is a good thing!  There are individual stamps for the 2 large flowers, which is what I used to pop over the large spray image for dimension.

Have a great day!

Birds and Hugs

I knew I "needed" this new Simon Says Stamp bird set the moment I saw it!  Here's my first play with it.

supplies: white cardstock, blue dotted dp from Bright Blooms paper pad, Simon Says Stamp Spring Birds stamps, My Favorite Things Sending You Hugs die, adhesive foam squares

This design really pleases me, as it has so many of my favorite things: birds, the color blue, dots, and the name of my blog!  The birds are a perfect size for A2 cards, and the little leafy branch was a nice addition to the selection of birds in this set.  And birds are a good thing for masculine cards, so I know this set will be used often!

Next, thinking along the line of simple masculine cards, here are 2 more ideas using the same supplies, but adding in some texture for the background.

supplies: white, Green Leaf, and Audrey Blue cardstock, Simon Spring Birds, MFT Sending You Hugs die, Taylored Expressions Leafy Vine embossing folder, Lime mini ink cube, Memory Box Pinpoint Leaf Plate

I first cut out the words, then did my embossing or a further die-cut to get the leafy details.

Thanks for stopping by - happy April!  Are the birds singing up a storm where you are?

My March Favorites

 Here are my favorite cards made in March.

As always, thanks for stopping by!  

Simon Says......Anything Goes

 

Happy Wednesday - welcome to our challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!

Our theme this week is Anything Goes, and the team is showcasing Paper Rose products.  

supplies: white cardstock, a pink watercolor wash dp, Paper Rose Rose Frame Background die, markers to color, Simon Spring Blessings die, adhesive foam strips to lift frame

I cut the Rose Frame from white cardstock, and then colored all the flowers, berries, and leaves.  I tried this out against lots of different colored backgrounds, but today this pretty pink wash won!  I used adhesive foam strips along the edges of the frame and anywhere large enough in the details so that I could lift this pretty design above the background.  Then I cut the Spring Blessings sentiment out twice, glued them together, and centered it on my card.

Now it's your turn!  We have a $25.00 gift certificate 

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!  I can't wait to see what you all make this week!

Peach and Green

 Earlier this month, Dawn McVey issued one of her color challenges on Instagram: to use peach and green.  I had just received this sweet Daisy Wreath layering stencil set and this was its first outing.

supplies: white cardstock, Sunny Studio Gingham Pastels (reverse) dp, Pink Fresh Studio Daisy Wreath stencil set, altenew inks and blender brushes, sentiment from The Greetery Lovely Blossoms, Doodlebug heart sprinkles

I'm a big fan of any layering supplies, be they stamps, dies, or stencils, since I much prefer adding my color with inks instead of pencils or markers, and I'm very pleased with the Pink Fresh stencils.  This set has matching dies, but this little wreath was easy enough to fussy-cut.

I found in making this card that I don't have many true peach papers or inks, something I need to remedy, as it's a lovely color!

Thanks for coming by today - hope you have a lovely week!

CASE-ing Dawn

Here's a card I CASEd from my friend Dawn's blog.

 I loved everything about this 2nd card of Dawn's, and pinned it the instant I saw it.  Our son has a birthday this month, and when I was playing with the largest bloom from my new Lovely Blossoms stamps, a bell went off and I used Dawn's card as inspiration for this one. 

supplies: white, black, and sage green cardstock, MFT plaid patterned paper, The Greetery Lovely Blossoms, Altenew Deep Blue Seas and Green Valley mini ink cubes, adhesive foam to lift flower

I loved Dawn's sketch, and especially matting everything in black.  Along with the plaid, I thought this made my card a bit more masculine despite it's large floral.  

Can you believe our oldest will be 46 this year?!!  We can't! 

Simon's April Card Kit: Friendly Flowers

 I received my beautiful April Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp!  It's amazing, packed with my favorite motif: flowers!  For my first card I decided to use the gorgeous patterned papers and stickers that are in it, along with a sentiment stamped in the new Cream embossing powder.

supplies: Cream notecard, Peacock and Slate cardstock,  Simple Stories Simple Vintage Cottage Fields dp, stickers from matching Cottage Fields collection, stamped sentiment from Friendly Flowers, Cream embossing powder

Cream has long been my personal favorite over white - to me it's so much richer!  So I was thrilled to see the new Cream embossing powder!

Here's the entire kit:

Thanks for stopping by!

Simon Says Stamp All the Feels release!

 

Simon's newest release called All the Feels is live!  

I received a CZ Design die called Happy Everything, and for my first card, paired it with a 3D embossing folder for spring!

supplies: white, black and yellow cardstock, Simon Floral Field embossing folder and NEW Happy Everything dies, white pigment ink and a yellow ink for daisy centers, Spellbinder Daisy dies

I simply embossed on yellow cardstock, then rubbed white pigment ink across the surface, and a little yellow ink in the centers of the flowers, then added my sentiment and daisy.

My next card is 180 degrees from the above one, about as simple as I get!

supplies: white, black, Cotton Candy, Banana, Green Apple, Surf Blue, Lavender, and a soft apricot cardstock, vellum, NEW Happy Everything dies, tiny heart die

I did diagonal stripes in a pastel rainbow order, and added some tiny hearts here and there.

To see the whole release, please click HERE, and for ideas on how to use them, I hope you'll visit our Gallery HERE.  As always, we've planned blog hops for Friday and Saturday, March 26 and 27, and an Instagram hop on Friday, April 9.

Enjoy!  

Simon Says........Spring/Easter Mood Board Inspiration

It's  Wednesday - time for a new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

 

This week we have a lovely Spring/Easter Mood Board to inspire your creations!

And the team is featuring Lawn Fawn products!  I fell in love with their Magic Iris Birdhouse Add-on dies, and was inspired by the pastels in our inspiration.  

supplies: white, Green Leaf, Lemon Chiffon, Cotton Candy cardstock, plank patterned paper,  Birdhouse Add-on dies, mustard seed distress ink, Newton's Nook Woodland Spring sentiment, Clouds stencil and speckled egg distress oxide ink, adhesive foam squares, white string, doodlebug tiny heart sprinkle

I used some wood plank patterned paper to cut out my birdhouse, giving it pale green trim.  Then I added some of the flower and leafy sprig dies.  I decided on yellow birds and gave them a little more definition with mustard seed distress ink.  I tried this against different backgrounds, but in the end went with a stencilled cloudy one, using my new speckled egg oxide ink.  Though there is a post die for the birdhouse, I added a piece of white string to hang it this time.  I pasted down the sentiment circle, then popped the birdhouse above it with some adhesive foam squares for some dimension

Now it's your turn!  We have a $25.00 gift certificate 

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!  I can't wait to see what you all make this week!

How About Some Pink?

 I pulled out some older supplies that have been neglected for today's card.

supplies: white cardstock, MFT (retired) Lucky Prints dp, Impression Obsession Ornate Oval Frame die, PinkFresh Studio Floral Elements stamps and matching dies, Zig markers and water, Doodlebug enamel heart, sentiment from The Greetery Lovely Blossoms, adhesive foam to lift florals

PinkFresh Studio recently had a new release and it reminded me of this set that I've had and only used 2 or 3 times, so I stamped a few of the small floral sprigs and die-cut them.  Being spring, I wanted to use pinks and lavenders.  This patterned dotty paper went with them nicely, and then all I needed was something to hold my sentiment.  I can't believe I haven't used this beautiful ornate frame more often - what lovely details it has!  Now that I've "found" it again, you'll be seeing it more often.

Thank you so much for stopping by today - enjoy your week!