Trick or Treat!

When I saw the inspiration for this week's Mix it Up challenge, I knew just what I'd use!

supplies: white cardstock, discontinued Halloween dps, retired The Craft's Meow stamp set, markers to color, Simon's Stitched Circle dies, Blueprints 20 banner dies, adhesive foam squares

I am not a cat person, but who could resist that sweet face?

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

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

Since it's the end of the month, our theme is Anything Goes.  The DT are all playing with Spellbinders products.  We'd love to see you using them, too, if you have any!

I have 2 cards for you today.  Here's my first:

supplies: periwinkle cardstock, unknown board dp, Spellbinder's Tammy Tutterow Choose Joy cling stamp, colored with a variety of markers (Spectrum Aqua, Tombow, Memento), Hero Arts pink pearls

I simply stamped and heat-embossed the stamp right onto the board design paper, and then colored it in rose, periwinkle, and green.  I stamped it a 2nd time so that I could cut out the roses and pop them up above the card.  This sentiment has lots of personal meaning to me, and Tammy has illustrated it beautifully!

Next up, a card made with a Spellbinders embossing folder using the faux letterpress technique:

supplies: watercolor paper and ivory cardstock, Spellbinders Donna Salazar Medallion embossing folder, peacock feathers, blueprint sketch, and wilted violet distress inks and water, DieNamics thanks die, hand-dyed seam binding 

I inked up the smooth side of the embossing folder with 3 distress inks randomly, then spritzed it with water, inserted my watercolor paper on top, closed the folder, and ran it through my Cuttlebug.  This embosses the panel and smooshes the inks all around the design.  I love how this combination of colors blended!

I must tell you that this embossing folder is very thick, and I couldn't get it to work the usual way in my little old Cuttlebug, (the usual sandwich was way too thick to fit), but I managed to figure out my own combination of plates, with a rubber mat thrown in, too.

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!

Celebrating Fall

The first theme for Concord & 9th's Where Creativity Meets C9 challenge is "Celebration".  I don't have many Concord & 9th products yet, but since I love fall and want to celebrate it, I thought I'd pull out my first C&9th product called Take A Bough, and make an autumn tree.

supplies: Take a Bough die set, fall distress inks, wood skewer, wood slice 

I started with an 8 1/2" X 11" piece of thick white cardstock, and sponged on 4 or 5 different yellows to reds distress inks, then cut my branches and constructed them just as I've done before.  After they were threaded onto a wood skewer, I inserted it into a wood slice as a base.  It stands about 7" tall, and is now in my kitchen making a bright splash of color for the season!

Sunshine

Here's a card using the sketch from Sugar Pea Designs Mix it Up challenge #15.

supplies: white, brown, 2 golds, and green cardstock, dp from Bo Bunny Believe pad, PTI  Bloom Builders #3, DieNamics Layered Leaves, sentiment from (retired) Technique Tuesday Bring on the Sun by Ali Edwards, brown button, various sequins

I love this sunshine sentiment and will never tire of getting it out and using it every year.  This time I added a sunflower to it.

Hope your week is full of sunshine - given and received!

Fall Thanks

Here's another entry for Winnie & Walter's ReRun #14 challenge.  I CASEd Gayatri's card.  I have lots of autumn leaf stamps, but not Renee's Leaves.  I chose  one of my sets that was a solid image, as compared to Gayatri's outline leaves.......

supplies: watercolor paper and Audrey Blue cardstock, Clearly Besotted retired Autumn Flowers stamp, fall and broken china distress inks,  Winnie & Walter's In a Word: Thanks cutaway, adhesive fun foam, sequins

This year I've been enjoying adding an aqua blue to my fall colors, and I followed suit for my card again today.  

Grateful

And yet ANOTHER wreath card, this time for the Taylored Expressions Share Joy challenge.   I loved both the sketch and the photo inspiration - here's my entry.

supplies: dps from Pebbles fall paper pads,  Lil' Inker Perky Posies flower and leaves dies, Taylored Expressions grateful die, Freckled Fawn enamel dots

Here's our inspiration:

Sugar Pea Mix it Up Challenge #16

I thought the sketch for this week's challenge at Sugar Pea Designs was fun.  Here's my take on it:

supplies: recycled white and various fall tones of cardstock, dp from Echo Park Fall is in the Air pad, My Monthly Hero September leaf dies and twine, Darice pearls, sentiment from The Craft's Meow Fall with Fibi and Lilly

Here's the challenge graphics:

Fall and its delightful temperatures and sunny skies has finally arrived here - enjoy your day!!

Simon's October Card Kit

I received my Simon October Card Kit yesterday and dived in first thing this morning!  If I'd designed a kit, this would be pretty close to it!

supplies: all supplies from Simon's October Card Kit, Nutty Over You stamp set, Burnt Orange, Audrey Blue, and Dark Chocolate cardstock, Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid for Fall dp, Little B Acorn sticker), plus: ivory cardstock, Simon's Stitched Circle die, Audrey Blue, Poppy, Bright Tangelo, and Cup o' Joe inks, Nuvo Caribbean Ocean crystal drops (from last month's kit), adhesive foam squares

I cut a stitched circle, then used the next smaller size of that set to lightly draw another circle inside as a pattern for my stamping.  After stamping the brown leaf sprig all the way around, I could erase my pencil lines, and then add my other elements, using ink colors that matched the background plaid.  This stamped circle was then popped above the rest of my card.

Here's the amazing kit for this month - don't wait too long!

MFT SuperStar Challenge

We've been on vacation, and missed most of this month so far, so I am sliding in at the last hour with 2 cards for My Favorite Thing's "You Could Be a Superstar" card contest. For my first card, I took it as another excuse to use my Flashy Florals stamps and dies, this time with a fall feel to them.

supplies: ivory and periwinkle cardstock, board design paper, MFT Flashy Florals stamps and dies, with sprigs from Beautiful Blooms and matching die, Thanks die, gems for some sparkle

I started out by stamping the Flashy Florals using autumn colors.  I liked them against this board design paper, and added some green leaves to the mix.  Then for some pop, I hit upon using this periwinkle color.  I stamped some tiny sprigs from Beautiful Blooms, and then added my sentiment to carry this color downwards, offset just a tad with some ivory to make it stand out better against the dark background.

Here's a 2nd card.  This time I simply played with some colors that I love together:

supplies: Audrey Blue, Green Apple, chocolate brown, and kraft cardstock, MFT Happy and Layered Leaves dies, Scattered Surface background stamp, sequins, twine

I stamped the background stamp once and then turned it 90 degrees and stamped again - I love the little pattern that emerges!

An autumn wreath

Here's a fall card using my new September My Monthly Hero card kit, which has sold out.  I'm SO glad that I grabbed this one when I did, as I love wreaths and this kit is all about wreaths and autumn!  For my card, I used just 2 of the dies, along with a few embellishments, pairing them with one of the sentiments in the stamp set.

supplies: white, red, orange, gold, and dark chocolate cardstock, wreath and branch dies, twine, and enamel dots, stamped sentiment from the September My Monthly Hero kit

Coincidentally, I saw the colors for this week at ColourQ, and used them for my first play with this set.

Thanks for stopping by today on the first day of fall!  

Simon Says........Gift It!

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

Our theme this week is "Gift It!", and the DT are all playing with Clearly Besotted products.  I made a gift-card holding tag, and stamped some tissue paper as gift wrap.

supplies: white cardstock, Clearly Besotted Bird Bath stamps, Spectrum Noir Blues and Reds markers, DieNamics Stitched Tag, Impression Obsession Gingham stamp, Hero Arts Cornflower ink, blue gingham ribbon, adhesive foam squares

I tried putting an actual gift card on my tag, but the design just took away from my theme, so I substituted a rectangle of stamped gingham for now.  The birds are popped up with foam squares, and the gift card will be nestled between them.

Next I used another of the birds in this set and stamped all over a piece of blue tissue paper in dark blue and white.  When it was dry, I used it to wrap a book, and added my tag.  Books are often gifts we give to our Grands, and I know these little birds would please our munchkins.

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!

A fun technique!

I have another card for Winnie & Walter's ReRun #14 challenge, this time being inspired by Lydia - she used the most fun technique!  I can't believe I've never tried it before!  She calls it layered resist.  She had some stunning cards in blue, so I went 180 degrees and used warm colors:

supplies: white, Simon's sunshine, and a gold shimmer cardstock, leaf from Simon One with Nature outine leaf, scattered straw, fossilized amber, carved pumpkin, ripe persimmon, and festive berries distress inks, W&W Big, Bold You sentiment stamp, In a Word Hello cutaway, and Audrey's Cutaways scalloped rectangle

Briefly, you start with a white piece of cardstock, and clear emboss your image.  Then sponge the entire panel with the lightest of your distress inks.  LET IT DRY! (this is the hard part!) or the embossing powder in this next and following steps will stick where it shouldn't!  Then clear emboss a few more images.  I used a mask each time.  Again, sponge the panel with a slightly darker ink, and repeat and repeat and repeat.  I used 5 different yellows to reds.  Since this is distress ink, at the very end, I splattered some water across the surface, and then blotted it up.  LOVE how this came out!

Lydia did a fancy cut for her design; I simply cut a scalloped rectangle from the center of my stamped panel, then framed it, added my sentiments, and  popped it above what was remaining.

Enjoy what's left of your weekend!

For a special little boy.....

Our youngest Grand turns 4 this month, and here's the card I made for him:

supplies: white and Bristol paper, Avery Elle Woodland Wonders and Storybook sets, Spectrum Aqua markers and water, smooshed broken china and mowed lawn distress inks, Simon's Stitched Rectangle die

The whole family likes to take "hikes" often, so I'm hoping that he'll like his card!

Simon Says.........Clean and Simple

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

Our theme this week is CAS: Clean and Simple, and the DT are all playing with CASual Fridays products.

I find myself in an uncomfortable position this week - the stamp set I got to use this week has evidently now been discontinued, as it no longer shows up at Simon.  I'm pretty sure that is the case, because I found a newer very similar set called Mistletoe and Holly, which would work at least for my first card.

supplies: kraft and BoBunny Wild Berry cardstock, CASual Fridays Merry Kiss-Mas clear stamp set, VersaFine onyx black and VersaMark inks, Simon white embossing powder, Doodlebug Ladybug twine, Hero Arts pearl heart, Signo white gel pen, Quickie glue pen, DieNamics Blueprints 20 stitched rectangle die, adhesive foam squares

There is a bow on the mistletoe sprig - using a glue pen, I glued some twine right over the stamped bow.

For my second card, I stamped the holly repeatedly in the center of my card base, masking the top and bottom.  Then I added some red strips and a colored version of the holly.

supplies: Hero Arts Grass layering paper and Simon Schoolhouse Red cardstock, CASual Fridays Merry Kiss-Mas stamps, Grass and Versamark ink with white embossing powder, Signo white gel pen

After I'd put all my elements onto my card, I felt it needed something, and so I added the little white dots by hand with my white pen.  That really helped to pull everything together.

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!

Mix It Up challenge

When I saw the sketch part of the current Mix It Up challenge at the Sugar Pea Designs blog, I thought it was a sweet way to show off some patterned papers.  And still having the Harvest Mouse set out on my work surface, I married the 2 for my entry:

supplies:  most dps from Pebbles Woodland Forest paper pad, MFT Harvest Mouse stamps, colored pencils, Simon's Stitched Circle and Spellbinder's Circle dies

Sugar Pea's Fall Fox set would be perfect here, but I haven't been able to snag it so far - it's at the top of my wishlist. 

I'd like to throw my hat into the My Favorite Things Superstar contest.

More Harvest Mice

I think I mentioned earlier when I posted my first cards using MFT's Harvest Mouse, that it took me until January last year to get this set that was released sometime last fall.  So this is really my first time playing with it in depth.  I made a card for my youngest sister here, so then of course I had to make some for my other sis and Mom!  Here they are:

supplies: Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid dp, watercolor cardstock, peacock feathers and fossilized amber distress inks and water, MFT Harvest Mouse stamp set, Spectrum Aqua markers, Winnie & Walter Audrey's Cutaways scalloped rectangle and stamped sentiment from the Big, the Bold, and Friends, Simon's Small Forest Tree die, Kelly Purkey alphabet stickers, adhesive foam squares

supplies: Core'dinations plaid cardstock, Simon's Burnt Orange cardstock, a recycled cream cardstock, MFT Harvest Mouse, Spectrum Aqua markers, May Arts twine, Simon's Stitched Circles dies, Doodlebug enamel heart, adhesive foam squares

I'm feeling fall in the air!

Warmest Blessings

The ReRun challenge at Winnie & Walter this month is using their Renee's Leaves set, and I was wowed by all of the samples presented to us!  I'll be making multiple entries for this one, but for my first, I was influenced by Heather's card.  I'm a paper-aholic, so I was delighted to see her card that incorporated a pattern paper as a main ingredient!

supplies: white and shimmery copper cardstock, vellum, pattern paper from Jen Hadfield's Warm & Cozy 6" pad, Winnie & Walter The Big, the Bold and the Blessings clear stamp set, copper embossing powder, Paper Smooches Dots & Dashes dot die to make stitching holes, gold thread, DieNamics Blueprints 20 and Simon Stitched Rectangles dies, sequins

Heather started with a new piece of pattern paper, and that's where I started also.  She used a bigger piece of vellum than I did, but I felt that covering up this design took away from the vibrant colors, so my vellum panel was added to the bottom third of my card.  I stamped and copper-embossed the sentiments, and then was faced with how to attach it.  After some thought I decided to stitch it on, but I was too lazy to get out my sewing machine, so I used a die to make stitching holes across the top and bottom and, using some gold thread, I hand-stitched it to my paper, adding a bow in the center of the top stitching.  I liked the look of the copper so well, that I went hunting in my stash for some copper cardstock, and ended up trimming it into a little scalloped frame which I overlaid over the card front.  To finish I just added some more sparkle with a scattering of sequins.  

I'll be back again soon!

Believe

After yesterday's simple design using the new Simon STAMPtember Believe die, I thought I'd show you a slightly more complex one using it:

supplies: white and silver glitter cardstock, Hero Arts Dazzling Snowflake woodblock stamp and Miracle of the Holidays clear set (retired), white embossing powder, a blend of blue distress inks, Simon Lots of Snowflakes clear stamp set, Simon's Believe die, some little snowflake dies

Thanks for stopping by!

Simon Says.........STAMP It!

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

It's STAMPtember!!  A very special month on the Simon Says Stamp calendar, and this week we are showcasing some of the brand new products being released this month!  You may not yet have any of the new products, but we'd love you to use Simon Says Stamp Exclusives for your creations this week - our theme is STAMP IT!  No digitals this week, please, we want to see you stamping!

The Monday Challenge also has the same theme this week, so you'll have 2 chances at winning a $50.00 gift card if you enter both challenges!

The design team were generously given some STAMPtember products to play with, and I've made 2 cards to show them off.

My first card features the new Believe die:

supplies: white and green cardstock, red glitter cardstock, Believe die, Tim Holtz Festive stencil, and some distress inks, along with some red sequins.

Next up, the adorable stamp set called An Arctic Christmas:

supplies: red and white cardstock, An Arctic Christmas, lots of various markers to color, tumbled glass distress ink for the sky, Simon's Falling Snow stencil, Signo white gel pen, Wink of Stella clear, and Gelly Roll Clear Stardust pens, DieNamics Blueprints 20 scallop and banner die

I'm not much of a colorist, but I had a ball deciding what these little penguins would wear to decorate their tree!  There are lots and lots of sentiments included in this one!

And hopefully you saw THIS POST at the beginning of this month, when I used the fabulous new Merry Christmas clear stamp.

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!

How would you like to win a fabulous Dream Craft Room Makeover AND lots of products?!  Click HERE for more details on how to enter and to watch a video showing what you could win!!  Good luck!

Curtain Call Candy Apple

When I saw the inspiraton for the current Curtain Call challenge, I had to play - the bright green and red mixed with black and white dots is so striking!  It's the season for apples!  Here's my entry:

supplies: ivory cardstock, black and white dotty dp, Doodlebug red dp, PinkPaislee bright green dp, stamped with Impression Obsession Gingham in Hero Arts Grass ink, Hero Arts (retired) Simply the Best Apple, DieNamics (retired) Insta-Frame die, Winnie & Walter In a Word: Thanks die, sentiment from Lawn Fawn Thanks a Bushel

Here's the inspiration: