A Look Back at my Favorite Cards of 2016

Today I'm continuing a tradition that I started in 2011 to bring back my favorite cards from the year.  I hope you'll enjoy visiting them once again, too.  If you'd like further details, just click on the card and you'll be taken to the original post.  I'd love to know which is your favorite!

As you can see, I'm still a flower girl, but there were lots of wreaths made this year, too!  A new door opened for me this year, as a designer for Tammy Tutterow's lovely designs.  She loves hearts and flowers as much as I do, and I look forward to playing with more of her designs in the New Year.

If you do a similar post of your favorites, I'd love to come visit your blog - just leave me a link in your comment.  Thank you for your visit today, and I wish us all a happy, healthy, and crafty 2017!

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

Welcome to our last challenge of 2016 at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

As always our theme at the end of each month is our ever-popular Anything Goes!  My teamies and I are playing with products from Lindy's Stamp Gang.

I used my Magicals powders as watercolors this time, and colored a pretty thank you card.

supplies: white cardstock card base, Tim Holtz watercolor panel, Wplus9 Beautiful Bouquets: Ranunculus clear stamp, Lindy's Gang Mermaid Seashells Magicals, tumbled glass distress ink, water.

I used a little palette and dropped the tiniest amount of each Magical color into each well, added some water, and painted this pretty image.  A tip I learned is to stir the mixture each time you dip into it, as the mica tends to settle to the bottom.  All of the colors have a golden glitz to them.  When everything was dry I washed some tumbled glass behind it, cut it into a scalloped panel, and mounted it on my card front.  Here's a closer picture to show you the glow:

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 final Christmas card to all of you

I am putting away my Christmas supplies today until next year.  Things will be quiet here for awhile as our family celebrates Christmas.  So I thought I'd leave you with my final Christmas card.  It's a simple design, but I'm sending along Christmas hugs and hopes for a peaceful, safe holiday.  I hope Santa brings you something special!

supplies: green, parchment, and red glitter cardstock, dp from Authentique's Retro Christmas bundle, Simon's Merry Christmas clear stamp, Schoolhouse Red ink, mini Misti, Memory Box Pinpoint Rectangle die, My Favorite Things Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangle die, Paper Smooches Holly dies

Simon Says.........Add Some Sparkle

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

This week our theme is "Add Some Sparkle", and the team are playing with Hero Arts products.  I went with blues and snowflakes for both of my cards, using glitter cardstock and sequins for my sparkle.

supplies: white and white glitter cardstock, peacock feathers and broken china distress inks, Hero Arts Paper Layering Snowflakes, Beauty of the Season, and Magical Background, VersaMark ink and white embossing powder, Simon's Stitched Rectangle die, moonshine sequins, adhesive foam squares

I cut out a stitched rectangle panel, then sponged it with 2 colors of distress inks.  Next I overstamped the Magical Background, then stamped and embossed my sentiment.  Lastly, I die-cut the snowflakes from the panel, popped them up, and added some sequins for my sparkle.  The panel was then popped above a white glitter cardstock. 

These snowflakes are really fun to play with!  I love the dimension that they add to an otherwise flat card.  There are framing dies for each flake included in the set, so that you can cut them out completely and place them anywhere you'd like, if you prefer.

For my 2nd card, I chose a big snowflake woodblock stamp and used lots of silver for my sparkle.

supplies: dark glimmery blue cardstock, silver glitter cardstock, Dazzling Snowflake, Versamark ink and Ranger super fine detail silver embossing powder, Concord & 9th Take a Bough snowflake die, Simon Merry & Bright die, Hero Arts adhesive crystals

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!

SSS January 2017 Card Kit

My Simon January Card Kit arrived yesterday, and I'm thrilled with these shades of blue and the delicate snowflake stamps in this kit!  Here's my first card using the supplies in the kit.  I envisioned sparkly silver flakes against a beautiful clear blue sky:

supplies: white cardstock, cornflower blue vellum, silver sequins, and Frozen Fractals stamp set from kit, silver embossing powder, Cornflower ink

I cut a panel of the darker of the luscious vellum/parchment papers, stamped the snowflakes randomly across the surface, then heat embossed them in silver.  I secured that panel onto my white card base using glossy accents under the center of each snowflake, then used cornflower ink and silver embossing to stamp my sentiment on a die-cut stitched scalloped square.

As you can see, also in the kit are a selection of pretty small-scale design papers, along with a sheet of Cornflower Blue cardstock - I have been waiting YEARS for this country blue shade to appear again, and I mustn't be the only one, as it is out of stock for now.  The other fun plus in this kit is a Lawn Fawn Shammy stamp cleaner cloth!  It sure beats the old washcloth I've been using, that leaves lint behind on my stamps.

As always, if you're liking what you see, don't wait to long to order your own kit!

Simon's Hey Love release

Yesterday afternoon I received a new die from today's Simon Says Stamp DieCember release that they're calling Hey Love!  I had to work fast before I lost my light, but here is my card:

supplies: white, Hero Arts Iris, and 2 shades of Pool layering papers, Simon's Hearts Align die, sentiment from Simon's Roses for You stamp set, Wplus9 Blossomberry and Hero Arts Splash inks

I decided to use some non-traditional colors , so I cut the die from all of the colors listed in my supplies, white, iris and 2 shades of aqua/pool, then inlaid the string of hearts onto the white panel and mixed up the colors.  Next, with the help of my trusty Mini Misti, I stamped the sentiment, and to finish, glued on some of the hearts that were leftover from my first cuts.

Hearts are one of my favorite motifs, so I'll be having a hard time choosing from this new Hey Love release!!  My faves right now are the Envelope Purse:

the Love Is background cling stamp:

and I love the fun font on the Heart Smile die:

There are dies, both words and hearts, stencils, and stamps, both cling and clear, in this release - something for everyone!

More Christmas from Tammy Tutterow

I have 2 more cards today as part of Tammy's Five for Friday feature coming tomorrow!  Again this time, I'm featuring a couple of her Christmas designs, and once again, I used some patterned papers.

supplies: spruce card base, Doodlebug snowflake design paper, Tammy's Happy Holly Days cling stamp, red and green markers to color, red pearls

I stamped directly onto the snowflake paper, embossed my stamping in clear, then colored in the details.  The panel was trimmed and attached to my card base.  Then I separately stamped, colored, and cut out the holly, and popped it above the base, adding some pearls as berries.

Next up, something a bit more whimsical:

supplies: white and red cardstock, Doodlebug ginghams in 3 greens, a yellow floral,and a striped design paper, Tammy's Merry & Bright Tree cling stamp, red and brown markers to color, red sequins

After stamping the entire design on white cardstock, I stamped and fussy-cut parts of the tree and paper-pieced them back onto the image.  The panel was framed, attached to my card base, and then I added red sequins.

Be sure to visit Tammy's blog to see what my teamies did this time!

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

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

Our theme this week is "Gift It!" and my teamies and I are playing with fun Mama Elephant products!

I made a card that holds a gift card on the front, and used some pastel colors for a change at Christmas.  This ME set was so fun to play with - it has so many little images that can be mixed and matched for a cute Christmas scene!

supplies: white and mint cardstock, Mama Elephant O' Tiny Tree clear stamps, VersaFine Onyx black and cracked pistachio distress ink to stamp, markers to color, DieNamics Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangle die, silver sequins

I think my card is pretty self-explanatory; I just stamped my elements, trimmed out a scalloped rectangle, then secured it on 3 sides to my card front so that I could insert a gift-card into the top.  I added my silver sequins at the very end.

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 cool quilt card

Earlier this week I shared a quilt card as part of my DT work for the Simon Wednesday challenge.  We get our assignments weeks in advance, and when I saw that our theme was "Icy", I jumped the gun and made this little quilt card, using adorable papers from a Doodlebug winter paper pad from last year.  I just "knew" that we would have cool blues and silvers as our colors for that challenge.  WRONG!  But since I had already made this and thought the purple/aqua combination was so unique, I'm sharing it today.  Any day I get to play with anything involving a quilt, I'm a happy lady!

supplies: white, Audrey Blue, and Iris cardstock, Doodlebug Polar Pals papers, MFT Quilt Square cover-up die, Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflake die, retired Hero Arts sentiment (from Made with Love), Wicker Weave embossing folder, Scallop border made using Blueprints 20 scallop rectangle die

I would never have thought to put these colors together - thank goodness Doodlebug did!  Thanks for stopping by!

Corbel Heart

Simon Says Stamp has just released their new Diecember products!  I got to play with this new Corbel Heart, paired it with an old favorite sentiment die, and here's the CAS result.

supplies: white cardstock, Simon's Corbel Heart and Painted Hugs dies, picked raspberry, ripe persimmon and spiced marmalade distress inks, sponging tool, adhesive foam tape

I started by sponging some distress inks onto a panel of white cardstock.  Next I cut out the Corbel Heart and hugs sentiment, then simply lifted the panel above my white card base so that some of the shadows from the negative cuts can be seen.

There are so many dies from this new release I've added to my wishlist already: the Birch Column die, the Flowing Vine Collage, and Elegant Roses - what are your favorites?  See them all HERE!

Simon Says.........Ice Inspiration

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

This week we have a beautiful photo inspiration put together by our Jenn.  

The Design Team are playing with My Favorite Things products this week.

My first card uses a favorite Christmas set:

supplies: white and red cardstock, last year's dps from Doodlebug and Simple Stories, MFT Santa's Elves, colored with Spectrum Noir markers and a silver pencil, sentiment from Hero Arts Family and Friends, Wink of Stella pen on ornament, star, and his "fur", adhesive foam squares

I wish I could capture the glitzy snowflake background directly behind the elf - love how it sparkles from across the room!

For my next card, I took the feeling of all that iciness from the photo inspiration, and made a quilt card.  There isn't anything better than cozying up under a quilt when it's cold outside!

supplies: tan, white, and brick red cardstock, various dps from my stash of Christmas papers, MFT Quilt Square Cover-up, sentiment from Let's Get Cozy, Simon Schoolhouse Red ink, Cuttlebug Wicker Weave embossing folder, Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes die, tiny red button

I cut the quilt square out multiple times, then pieced the pieces back into the frame, and when it was finished I embossed it for some extra dimension, before attaching it to my card base.  Then I added my sentiment from a fun sentiment set that has lots of quilt-related sentiments, and popped a stitched snowflake in the center of my quilt to reinforce the ice theme.

Now it's your turn - I can't wait to see what you make for us this week!  As always we have a $50.00 gift voucher

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