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

Happy Wednesday!  Welcome to another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog!

It's the last week of the month, so that means it's Anything Goes!  My teamies and I are playing with Avery Elle products this week, and if you have anything of their's, we'd love to see you using them too!

I love wreaths, and have had this Banner & Wreath set on my wishlist, so I was thrilled to be able to get it and use it for this challenge.  The little birds that are included were a real plus for me!  I decided to use seasonal colors, as fall has been calling to me these last hot days of August.

supplies: white and Hero Arts Latte cardstock, Avery Elle Banner & Wreath stamps, Memento Markers, VersaFine onyx black and Hero Arts Latte inks,  MFT DieNamics Stitched Mini Scallop die, flower sequins

This set has the perfect sized wreath, and lots and lots of floral sprigs  - I only used one of them, along with the birds and 1 of the sentiments in this set.  There are matching dies, but I enjoyed fussy-cutting these out myself.

My next card was heavily influenced by Dawn W's card:

supplies: Bristol paper, Avery Elle Floral Frame clear stamp set, Spectrum Aqua markers and water, peacock feathers and a bit of twisted citron distress inks for background washes, adhesive foam squares, Simon moonshine sequins

I white embossed my flower sprays, colored them in with a bit of water, and fussy-cut around their inside edges, leaving the corners of each piece intact.  Then I watercolored the outside edges of each panel.  I did the same for the card base before stamping and white embossing the sentiment.  To finish, the panels were popped above the card base, and I sprinkled some sequins.

Now it's your turn - I can't wait to see what you create!  Heidi has provided another $50.00 gift voucher

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

Tomorrow begins a month-long celebration of stamping called STAMPtember, at Simon Says Stamp!  I am right there with you in counting down the hours until the new products will be released!  I'll see you there!

Time for Fall Cards!

Here are 2 more cards using the adorable Harvest Mouse stamps and a similar sketch:

supplies: cream cardstock, Lawn Fawn Let's Polka dotted paper, MFT Harvest Mouse set, Spectrum Aqua Markers to color, Simon Stitched Circle and Small Forest Tree dies

supplies: cream cardstock, Lawn Fawn's Into the Woods papers, MFT Harvest Mouse, Spectrum Noir colored pencils, Simon's Stitched Circle and Small Forest Tree dies, Kelly Purkey alphabet stickers, Winnie & Walter "hugs" from The Big, the Bold, & Friends clear stamps, adhesive foam squares

We have a family story about mice.  My sister, 7 years younger than me, has always loved all animals.  One Christmas, before my Denny and I were married, he got her a game.  She asked if she could exchange it for some mice.  My husband made her get permission from my Mom, who said okay, as long as they were of the same sex.........I think you can imagine the end of the story.  In just a few weeks her 2 little mice had expanded to dozens - certainly "a harvest of blessings", at least to her!  I'll be sending the 2nd card to her this fall.....

I hope to see you again on Wednesday with my Anything Goes cards for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge!

Share Joy Challenge #50

I have a card today that I'd like to enter into the Taylored Expressions Share Joy challenge.  I used the sketch along with some fall colors, pulling them from the floral paper:

supplies: ivory cardstock, dps in autumn tones, Taylored Expressions Bloomers 3 (flowers), Bloom Where You're Planted (leaves) and grateful dies, TE felts in butter, carrot, and tiffany, and PTI Hawaiian Shores, Simon Stitched Rectangle and Circle dies, sequins to match

I love these kinds of sketches, because it means I can use some of my collection of design papers!

Here's our inspiration - you can use either the sketch or the photo inspiration, or both.  

A Harvest of Blessings

When I finally was able to get this Harvest Mouse set last year, it was way beyond the season, and though I adapted it for some Valentines for my Grands, it has been waiting until now to get used again.  The current My Favorite Things sketch challenge gave me just the start I needed!

supplies: cream card stock, MFT Harvest Mouse clear stamps, Spectrum Aqua markers to color, DieNamics Stitched Tag, Pebbles Harvest papers, Martha Stewart fence punch, adhesive foam squares

Here's our sketch:

I had a fun afternoon yesterday playing with these adorable little guys......you'll be seeing a few more cards using them soon!

Just Because

I just recently treated myself to this Concord & 9th Layers of Love die set.  I have always been drawn to hearts and so this 3-piece set just had to come home with me.  I made 3 cards.

supplies: white, Hero Arts Carnation, and a BoBunny dp from their Pincushion Collection, Layers of Love floral dies, Simon's Handwritten Sentiments, Hero Arts pale pink pearls, adhesive foam squares

I don't think I've seen anyone use this set yet with printed papers, so that's where I started.  I love this little pink, green, and brown number, and it had flowers and dots, too, so that was my choice.  The white panel was popped above the card, and I added the flower sprig to the top, along with a couple pearls.

Next, I wanted to use something besides white for the floral heart, so I chose a piece of Watercolor Wash design paper from My Favorite Things.  This card is completely flat for easier mailing.

supplies: white, lavender and MFT Watercolor Wash dp, Layers of Love floral dies, Hero Arts Hello Sunshine sentiment, white pearls and lavender gems

And lastly, I added the striped die to the mix:

supplies: white and Bazzill Robin's Egg cardstock, Layers of Love heart dies, Wplus9 Handwritten Hello die, Spare Parts paper roses

I die-cut my sentiment into the top layer, and saved the negative parts to add after the top white layer was attached to the aqua 2nd layer.  The 3rd layer is the white card base.

I've always been a late bloomer, so I'm late as usual to this Layers of Love party, but I know this will get lots of use all throughout the year, not just for Valentine's Day!

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your weekend!

Simon's September Card Kit

I have a couple of cards for you today that I made using the Simon Says Stamp September Card Kit.

supplies: white cardstock, dps from Doodlebug Smitten Kitten collection, Simon's It's No Secret stamps, My Mind's Eye Hooray puffy stickers, Nuvo Silver Moondust glitter drops, all in the September kit

supplies: black and white cardstock, Doodlebug Smitten Kitten design papers, Simon's It's No Secret sentiment, Nuvo Caribbean Ocean drops, all in kit

My favorite part of this kit are the papers and the Nuvo drops!  I'm pretty sure I'd never have known about these little bottles that help you make enamel dots - that's the goodness in these kits!  Here's a look at all that you'll get:

Simon Says.........It's Hip to be Square!

Happy Wednesday!  Welcome to another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog!

Welcome to another challenge!  This week we have a fun theme for you, called "It's Hip to be Square"!  My teamies and I are using Simon Says Stamp exclusive products, and we'd love to see you using yours, too!  I used this theme as an excuse to get myself a couple of Simon products that I've had on my wishlist for awhile.  And, as it turns out, both of my cards use a favorite element, the scribble flower, as a main ingredient.

First up, I made a square card, and my square element is the gingham stencil pattern.

supplies: white, 2 shades of pool, and 2 shades of green cardstock, Simon Gingham stencil, twisted citron distress ink, Simon's Single Roses and Painted Hugs dies, DieNamics Stitched Mini Scallop Square die, Scrapbook Adhesives foam squares

I have been eternally in love with all things gingham, so I was thrilled to be able to get this stencil for my stash!

Next is a card using square tiles as my required element; they're another item from my wishlist - I love the idea that now I can make whatever sentiment I want on my cards!

supplies: white, green, and Penny Black Purple Mountain cardstock, dp from MFT Tranquil Textures paper pad, Simon's Heart of Roses die and Game Tile Letters stamp set, Scrapbook Adhesives foam squares

I really like the addition of the blue background to the purples and greens!

Now it's your turn - I can't wait to see what you create!  Heidi has provided another $50.00 gift voucher

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

Vintage and Modern

I'm playing today with a set of thinlet dies in the Sizzix/Tim Holtz set called Mixed Media 2.  All 3 of them, I think, originated first as stencils in his line.  This one is an extremely feminine set, so I pounced when I saw it!   Here's my first play:

supplies: cream,  pastel and dark blue cardstock, an unknown script text design paper, Mixed Media 2 flourish thinlet, Simon's Christmas Blessings die, 3 blue paper flowers from our local craft store

Since this flourish is so ornate, I wanted to do something with a vintage feel, and so I chose this scripty text paper as my background, and then my favorite color to complete the design.

This next card features the doily die, and I think it has a much more modern feel:

supplies: black and white cardstock, dps from My Favorite Things Dots & Stripes Sorbet paper pad, Mixed Media 2 doily die, mixed sentiment from Simon's Handwritten Sentiments and Winnie & Walter Big, Bold and Happy, black pearls, adhesive foam squares

I simply die-cut the doily and trimmed it into a rectangular panel, then lined and framed it before popping it above my card base.

There's a wildflower die included in this set, but I decided to make it into a leafy branch for a fall card:

supplies: white cardstock, Mixed Media die and Holiday Words Script sentiment die, ripe persimmon, carved pumpkin, fossilized amber, and candied apple distress inks, Perfect Pearls mixed with water, Winnie & Walter Audrey's cutaways scalloped die, adhesive foam squares

I covered a panel with autumnal distress inks, then spritzed it with a mixture of Perfect Pearls and water to give it a little shimmer.  Then I die-cut a scalloped panel, and from that, the Tim Holtz die.  I used the same distress inks, watered down, to splatter that panel. The sentiment is made up of a long-discontinued autumn stamp set from JoAnn, along with another Tim Holtz sentiment die, this one from a Holiday set. 

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Altenew Challenge

The current Altenew Inspiration challenge has evidently been in the back of my mind, because I woke up yesterday morning, and made another card for it.  This time I used more of the greys, in ombre style, and because of that, the flowers pop more on this card......I also toned down the deeper cranberry from my last card to a brighter pink.

supplies: white, pink, grey, and black cardstock, Altenew Painted Flowers and Beautitul Day (sentiment), Avery Elle Brushed, 4 shades of grey, 2 pinks, and a green ink, Simon Stitched Rectangle die, black enamel dots

Here's our August inspiration:

Thanks for stopping by today - hope you're enjoying your Sunday!

With Thanks

When I saw these new stamps and dies from Concord & 9th, I practically fell over myself putting them into my shopping basket.  They arrived earlier this week, and I made three cards using them:

supplies: cream and Hero Arts Punch cardstock, Concord &9th Give Thanks stamps, various Hero Arts inks, Concord & 9th Layering Leaves die, Paper Smooches Dots & Dashes die

I simply stamped the sentiment, then masked it off and stamped the heart-shaped leaves.  After trimming the panel, I die cut a line of dots, and also a few of the matching leaf dies and then glued everything together.

I was first drawn to these sets because of this heart-shaped leaf, so here's another go with it.

supplies: recycled cream cardstock, sourced locally, Concord & 9th Layering Leaves die and Give Thanks stamp set, "with" from Winnie & Walter's Big, Bold, and Happy sentiment set,  a harvest rainbow ink pad, ripe persimmon, fossilized amber, and ground espresso distress inks mixed with water for splattering, matching sequins, adhesive foam squares

I started by trimming out a piece of cardstock just a tad smaller than my card front.  Next I stamped my sentiments using my Mini Misti.  Then I die-cut the leaves going diagonally across my card, and after removing the leaves from the panel, I splattered some distress inks lightly across it.  Next the stamped  panel was laid over my card front and I lightly traced the areas where the leaves would be, then removed the panel and stamped the heart from the stamp set in those areas, using a multi-color stamp pad in fall tones. (I also masked the top left and bottom right areas on the card front so that the stamping ended at the same place as my die-cut panel would.)  Then I carefully adhered the leaf cuts back into the panel, added some foam squares on the back to lift it, and affixed it to the card front.  My last step was sprinkling some matching sequins.

My last card uses the other 2 leaf dies.  One of them looks like wheat to me, so I ran with that idea, and made a more neutral card.

supplies: various kraft to cream cardstock, plus a green, Hero Arts Old Letter Writing background stamp, Simon Khaki ink, Concord & 9th Layering Leaves dies, Simon's retired Autumn Blessings sentiment, DieNamics Stitched Tag die, natural twine

These 2 sets are wonderful on their own, but I highly recommend that you get the stamps and dies both! 

Flamingo colors

The monthly inspiration for August at the Altenew blog is to use flamingo colors!  Here's the card I made:

supplies: white, , light pink, rosy red, and charcoal cardstock, unknown board design paper, Altenew Painted Flowers stamps, Hero Arts inks, Wplus9 Hand Lettered Thanks sentiment, black enamel dots

I have really become addicted to multi-step stamping - the results are so much nicer than my own coloring of a stamp.  And this Painted Flowers set has become a favorite and go-to of mine.

Here's our inspiration board:

Be sure to visit Altenew to see the other gorgeous entries for this month's challenge!

Simon Says........Make for the Border!

Happy Wednesday!  Welcome to another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog!

Our theme this week is "Make for the Border"!  You can interpret that any way you'd like - I'll bet we'll have some fun and unique entries this week!  The Design Team are working with Memory Box products.  If you have any of their products, we'd love to see you using them, too!

When I hear "border", I think garden border, so I made you a card full of delphiniums.  They come in the most luscious blues and purples, even some pinks and whites, and because they can get to 6' or so, they put on a real show in a garden!  I used some coordinating stencils to make my border.

supplies: white and purple cardstock, Memory Box Garden Stencils, Delphinium and Stems, Spectrum Aqua markers (wildflower, heather, peacock blue, and moss), Simon's Stitched Rectangle die, happy die, adhesive foam, Hero Arts birthday sentiment

First I cut my stitched rectangle, then used my stencils with markers to make my delphinium border, moving them around to get a good full panel of them.  Then I die-cut the big happy from my panel, and cut it a 2nd time from adhesive foam, and put the stamped one on top.   I stamped my birthday sentiment, and then fit in my die-cut in it's place, framed the whole panel, and affixed it to my card base.

For my 2nd card, I used a flower die and made a border strip this time:

supplies: white, black, and Audrey Blue cardstock, Memory Box Hibiscus Flower die, DieNamics Layered Leaves die, distress inks to sponge, Taylored Expressions Leafy Vine embossing folder, Simon Sunshine die, hello from Winnie & Walter The Big, the Bold, and the Happy, sequins to match flowers.

Now it's your turn - I can't wait to see what you create!  We have another $50.00 gift voucher

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

Simon Says.........Let's Go Wild!

Welcome to another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

This week our theme is "Let's Go Wild!", and the Design Team are all playing with Wplus9 products.  You don't have to use them to play with us, but if you have some, we'd love to see them being used.

Here's my first card:

supplies: white card stock base, Bristol paper, Wplus9 Party Animal set, Spectrum Aqua markers and water to color, smooshed salty ocean and mowed lawn distress inks for background, Simon's Stitched Rectangle die

First I smooshed my background, using some brighter distress inks, and when it was dry, I trimmed it using the Stitched Rectangle die and stamped my sentiment.  Next I stamped and watercolored the animals and birds, cut them out, and then glued them to my background.

Here's another one, using "wild" flowers, aka Doodle Buds:

supplies: Bristol paper, Wplus9 Doodle Buds and bird from Party Animal, Spectrum Aqua markers and water, tumbled glass distress ink and finger dauber to shade background, Simon Stitched Rectangle die

Now it's your turn - I can't wait to see what you create!  Heidi has provided another $50.00 gift voucher

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

And don't forget about our Kid's Challenge running all this month!

Stamping with Markers

I finally broke down and got this Impression Obsession Full Bloom Hollyhock cling stamp, and it came just in time to make a birthday card for a friend who loves her garden.  I've seen Karen use these many times, so she was my muse.

supplies: Bristol paper and Simon Doll Pink cardstock, Impression Obsession Full Bloom Hollyhock and Hero Arts woodblock Sunshine and Flowers from 2006, picked raspberry and mowed lawn distress markers, Tombow 723 and Memento Rose Bud markers, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, DieNamics Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangle die, Simon moonshine sequins

I colored directly onto my stamp with markers.  You can take your time to get in all the details, and then spritz lightly with water before stamping.  Then I stamped my sentiment and die-cut it out using a stitched scallop die.  The bigger panel was attached to a Doll Pink card, and the sentiment panel was lifted with adhesive foam, then I added my butterflies and a few sequins.

I love hollyhocks, make me remember my grandfather's garden, but I can't seem to grow them, so this is the next best thing!

Gingham and Flowers

I have always loved ginghams, but they had become scarce there for awhile.  I am so thrilled that My Favorite Things gave us a paper pad full of small-scale ginghams!   I teamed one of them up with some new Wplus9 flowers.  I like how the gingham gives these flowers a little punch!

supplies: white cardstock, My Favorite Things Tiny Check paper pack, Wplus9 You = Kind clear stamp set,  Hero Arts Bubble Gum, Orange Soda, Butter Bar, and Green Hills inks, DieNamics Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangles die

If you'd like to see these same flowers used in a little different way, see this card.

Hope you're having a great weekend and staying cool!