You Make Me Smile

Just dropping in with a quick card today.  This was made for a challenge and never shared:

supplies: May Arts Natural twine, Simon's Cream cardstock as card base, Basic Grey Vivienne papers, Simon's Expressions for You stamp set and die, PTI Bloom Builders #3 flower die, Doodlebug flower button, Doodlebug Cupcake Sprinkles (enamel dots)

I hope my card makes you smile today - thanks for coming by!

Simon Says.........Anything Goes!

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

Our theme is our usual end-of-the-month Anything Goes, your favorite!!  The Design Team are playing with Hero Arts products this week.  If you have any of their stamps, stencils, or dies, we'd love to see you using them!  

By now you should have noticed how much in love I am with anything that is a multi-step stamp......most of them up until now have been florals, but Hero Arts is expanding that idea.  They call it color layering,  because you use inks to color the stamped images, and I couldn't wait to play with this Bird and Branch set!  I also used one of their new Stamp & Cut sets for this card.  The mixed fonts of type with a beautiful script is lovely, and what a great idea to give us a die to work along with them!

supplies: Hero Arts Color Layering Bird & Branch clear stamp set, Brilliance pearlescent sky blue, Hero Arts Cornflower, Stone Wash, Green Hills, and Grass, Memento Luxe Toffee Crunch, and VersaFine Onyx Black inks, Hero Arts Happy Stamp & Cut stamps and die set, Hero Arts Grass layering paper and dp from an old Echo Park Dots & Stripes paper pad, Hero Arts light blue pearls

My next card is a CASE of a card by Karen Mead.  When I saw her card I immediately added this Paint Spots woodblock stamp to my wishlist at Simon.  I think this stamp makes a perfect birthday or celebration card -  it looks like fireworks to me!  Wouldn't it look great embossed in metallics against a dark background?  And once again, the mixed font on the sentiment stamp is so appealing to me; I believe it's Kelly Rasmussen's handwriting.

supplies: Hero Arts Paint Spots and Happy Birthday to You woodblock stamps, mermaid lagoon distress, Ranger Electric Lime, Lemon Twist, and Cheese Puff dye inks, Simon's Hollyhock ink, and Hero Arts Punch ink, Simon's Stitched Rectangles dies, striped paper from Doodlebug's Sunkissed paper pad

I decided I wanted to back the stamped panels with a striped one, and so I pulled the ink colors from the striped paper.  

Now it's your turn!  We have a $50.00 gift voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store for one lucky random winner of our challenge!

Do you use Instagram?  If you do, we'd love you to add #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there, too!

CASE-ing Kelly

I am most honored today to be Kelly's latest {CASE}ing Genius!

{CASE}ing Genius is a weekly post on Kelly's blog, where she chooses a fellow card-maker, lets us get to know that person a bit with a fun interview, and some of her cards, and then CASES one of those cards.  It's been a great way to meet more wonderful designers!

Kelly and I both love flowers, and we both feature them prominently on our cards often, so I can't wait to see what she does with me as her muse!  I hope you'll go over to her blog, You and Your Big Dreams, and leave us both some love there.  

I was so tickled that she wanted to feature me that I decided I'd turn the tables on her and CASE one of her amazing cards!  I was really taken with this post, where she stamped, masked, die-cut and inlaid, using her amazing coloring skills with Copics.  And she ended up with 2 gorgeous cards!  Here's my CASE of them:

supplies: Altenew Painted Flowers, Simon's Stitched Rectangle die, Winnie & Walter's Big, Bold Friends cutaway

I stamped my flowers on a white cardstock panel, keeping them as close together as I could, but I didn't do any masking.  These are multi-step stamps, so next I colored the flowers and leaves, using 2 shades of ink for each color you see here.  The next step was to die-cut the stitched rectangle from that stamped panel, and also from a clean white panel.  And from those smaller stitched panels, the word was die-cut, then inlaid back into the opposing panel.  The white panel was inlaid back into the stamped panel, and then the whole thing was popped above a card base.  The smaller panel with the floral background was affixed to another white card base, and voila!  2 cards for 1!

Thank you so much, Kelly, for your amazing inspiration, and for featuring me on your blog today!

Simon Says.......Back to School

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

Our theme this week is Back to School, and the Design Team are using products from My Mind's Eye.  Here's my card:

supplies: My Mind's Eye Remarkable paper pad, (notebook paper from MME Sky's the Limit), Hero Arts apple, (from Simply the Best, now discontinued, but THIS apple is very similar and so is THIS one) My Favorite Things Die-Namics By the Letters die, typed words from Winnie & Walter's Big, Bold Seasons (masked)  and Big, Bold You, EK Success Binding Edge punch, May Arts natural twine, enamel dot

Now it's your turn!  We have a $50.00 gift voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store for one lucky random winner of our challenge!

Do you use Instagram?  If you do, we'd love you to add #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there, too!

A la Mary Engelbreit?

Here's a card for the current CAS(E) this Sketch challenge:

supplies: white, black, and Hero Arts Poppy layering paper, Doodlebug and Little B washi tape, Die-Namics Blueprints 20 cross-stitch die, Winnie & Walter's Big, Bold Friends cutaway, Wplus9 Blanket Stitched Blooms, Hero Arts Punch, Grass, and Butter Bar inks

After assembling my panel following the sketch, I off-set it slightly left on my card base.  Don't these colors and designs remind you of Mary Engelbreit with the reds and black?

Here's the sketch:

My favorite color!

They're using my favorite color at this week's Color Throwdown, so I had to have a play!

supplies: 2 greys, 4 blues and 1 green cardstocks, Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain stamped in charcoal ink, PTI Bloom Builders #3, buttons, Essentials by Ellen Bold Blossoms (leaves), Simon's love you die

I made my own planking in the background with a woodgrain stamp, then cut it apart and repieced it onto a darker grey backing.  The rest of the elements are die-cuts, and I put buttons in the center of the flowers.

Don't you just love this inspiration photo with the gorgeous shades of seaglass?

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your weekend!

I'm supposed to be ironing.......

......but when I saw the August Monthly Meetup challenge at the Lil' Inker blog was Anything Goes, I put that off for another day and pulled out my brand new (to me)  Circles & Diamonds Stitched Pattern die and had a play.  This is a different kind of die, in that it cuts the stitched pattern into paper, and then you use the Darling Diamonds stamp set to give it more detail and color.  I just got this die last week, haven't had the time until today to really experiment with it.  I paired it with my stamp set, and ended up with three four cards for this challenge, the first 3 based on various color schemes from past color challenges that I've played in.  ETA: after looking at all of these lined up, they kind of represent each season.  This first one would be summer:

This also uses Lil' Inker's Spring Flower die and a die-cut sentiment.  The colors come from this color challenge, and you can see that I was influenced by those sunflowers, too:

Card #2 is a Christmas design:

The khaki centers were stamped twice with the striped stamp, turning it 90 degrees to get this checked/plaid look.  I trimmed down the stamped panel for this one, framing it in kraft and placing it on a red card base.   I added a stamped sentiment and some sparkly snowflakes.  Here's the color challenge that inspired this card:

And I'm back to fall with my third entry:

Since the orange peel shapes were in different colors, they reminded me a bit of falling leaves, and I ran with that idea.  A happy coincidence is that this stitched frame works perfectly in size with this design, so I added it as an inner frame to bring in more of the aqua.  I also added a die-cut sentiment and some falling leaves to the mix.   These colors came from this challenge:

..............and then I read the fine print for the challenge: "Projects should exclusively feature LID goodies to be eligible to win but do not need to exclusively feature LID goodies to participate."  Okay, then, here's one more in spring colors using pinks and mints that follows the rules!

I love the center diamond with the heart, so that is featured on this card.  I didn't want to cover up anything, so I stamped my sentiment from Spot On on vellum and embossed it in silver, scored and folded my vellum strip so that it stood up above everything else,  then added some pink pearls on either side.

To say that I'm thrilled with this Circles and Diamonds die and stamp combo is an understatement - I love that you can use it with as little as 2 colors and as many as 4, and I'm sure more than that.  It lends itself to embellishing, yet it's interesting enough on it's own to stand by itself with just a sentiment.  The designers of the stamp set gave us some really fun patterns to fill in the stitched areas with.  Before I made cards I was a quilter, and I love that now I can make my own paper quilts whenever I'm in the mood.  I evidently miss making quilts, and could have gone on.......except for that darn ironing!!  Thanks for sticking with me for this long post!

 

Happy 5th Birthday, Lil' Inker! 

Simon Says.........Food or Drink

It's Wednesday and that means a brand new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge blog!

This week our theme is Food or Drink, and the Design Team are all using Simon Says Stamp exclusive products.  

My first card features probably my favorite treat:

supplies: white and several kraft cardstocks and a variety of Doodlebug paper pads, Simon's Ice Cream Cones die and Ice Cream Dreams clear stamp set, Die-Namics BluePrints 20 stitched die, Simon's moonshine sequins

The Doodlebug design papers are perfect for my ice cream scoops, as they are always such nice tiny prints, and don't overcome the die.

And I used this cute coffee cup die for my second card:

supplies: Simon's Coffee Cup die and What's Brewing? stamp set, papers from Amy Tangerine Plus One paper pad, Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins

Now it's your turn!  Heidi has yet again provided another $50.00 gift voucher

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!

Do you use Instagram?  If you do, we'd love you to add #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there, too! 

And - don't forget our Kids Summer Vacation Challenge!  All kids from ages 2 through 16 can enter - and there are THREE prizes being given away!!

                 

Pinterest Inspired Challenge #1

There's a new challenge starting up, called the Pinterest Inspired Challenge, and as the title says, the challenges will all be inspired by images from Pinterest.  I spend alot of time there, so I thought this would be a fun one!

I was immediately drawn to the colors, and here's what I made:

supplies: Hero Arts pool layering paper as card base, white, black, and grey cardstock, Altenew Vintage Flowers, various aqua, yellow and green inks, Hero Arts Happy Stamp & Cut die, Winnie & Walter "birthday" sentiment from The Big, the Bold, and the Happy, Simon's Medium Dots stencil, and some of the same inks used to stamp the flowers, Simon's Moonshine sequins

There are some really gorgeous entries in the gallery - be sure to go check it out!

Wishing You Joy

This is the 25th challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Flickr group and the theme is "White on White with a Touch of Color"  Sounded like fun to me, so here's my entry.

supplies: Simon's white woodgrain cardstock, pale blue cardstock, Artful Flowers, blue and white vellum, pale blue and white pearls, Simon's Wishing die, and Sending & Wishing stamp set (sentiment), VersaMark ink and white embossing powder

I chose some of my favorite Simon flowers and stamped and white embossed them on blue and white vellum, then arranged them on my hoarded woodgrain cardstock and added a sentiment and some pearls to finish.  This could be sort of a "something blue" item for a bride to be.......

Ditsy blue

Here's another version of the card I made last week for the Simon Wednesday challenge, this time done in blue.  I used an older Simon clear set that had several small floral elements, and just randomly stamped them, then cut the panel apart on a diagonal and mounted it on a blue base stamped with the sentiment:

supplies: blue and white cardstock, Simon's Life is a Journey stamp set, Avery Elle's Oh Happy Day sentiment, My Favorite Things Blueprints 20 scallop die, Martha Stewart punch, white crochet thread, Hero Arts button

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!  It's been a busy one here, with the Pro-Football Hall of Fame festivities here in town, and a family reunion out of town!  And our beloved Bluecoats Drum & Bugle Corps took 3rd place in the Drum Corps International Finals in Indianapolis last night!

Sunshine & Daisies

Today I decided to do a CASE of a card I made several years ago, using some of the same elements, and some newer ones.  Here's the old card:

And here's today's version :

supplies: yellow gingham dp from an old October Afternoon pad, Simon's Fresh Daisies and Sunshine dies, stamped sentiment from Simon's My Sunshine clear stamp set, Die-Namics Blueprints 20 scalloped die, Paper Sweeties yellow flower sequins

Thanks for stopping by - hope it's sunny where you are!

Simon Says.........Tie it Up!

Happy July!  It's Wednesday, too, and that means a brand new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge blog!

Our theme this week is "Tie it Up!"  Use ribbon or twine or anything else you can think of along that vein.  The design team are using Paper Smooches products this week.

supplies: Paper Smooches Lovely Thoughts, 2 shades each of peach, pink, yellow, and green inks, lemongrass satin ribbon, green enamel dot

Aren't these roses lovely?  They look like stained glass with their thick black outlines!  This is a multi-stamping set, so coloring them is so easy!   

For my next card I was influenced by this sweet card by Lucy.  I used some small elements from another Paper Smooches set, and stamped a background, then broke it up, adding some stitching and a die-cut sentiment.

supplies: Paper Smooches Blossoming Buds, Simon's Cotton Candy and Melon inks, along with Hero Arts Butter Bar and Bubble Gum inks, Paper Smooches Birthday Word die, pink cardstock, Paper Smooches Dots die, Doodlebug Bumblebee twine, an enamel heart, Hero Arts Zinnia Bloom, colored with markers

I used the dot die on either side of the panel where I wanted my sentiment to be, then threaded my twine and sewed using the dots as my guide.  The daisy was not originally planned for this card, but it was sitting on my desk, and I liked it paired with the little flowers.

Now it's your turn!  Our sweet generous Heidi has yet again provided another $50.00 gift voucher

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!

Do you use Instagram?  If you do, we'd love you to add #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there, too! 

A very special challenge from the Simon Wednesday challenge blog!

 Hi all and welcome to another of our annual Simon Says Stamp Summer Vacation Kid's Challenge where we host a special challenge dedicated to our young designers.

ANYTHING GOES 

It is time for all you crafters to let your children loose in your crafty corners for a few hours. Just close your eyes and set them free to explore their creativity :-) You are allowed to hide your Copic Markers and extra special papers and you are allowed to help just a little bit if necessary, but we really want the children to 'DO IT' themselves as much as possible :-)

This challenge is open to all children aged between 2 and 16 inclusive.

We have not 1, not 2 but  3 surprise parcels of crafty goodies, hand picked by Simon!

For this challenge we have a very special Junior Design Team who I am sure you will agree have done an excellent job.

Please give them a warm welcome and leave comments for them on their blog posts. Thank You 

You have until August 31st 6pm Ohio time. 11pm UK time, 12 pm CET to join in

You can enter as many times as you like :-)

GOOD LUCK

Please add the age of the child to the linky.