Happy Easter

I received my Simon March Card Kit over the weekend, and here's a card using it:

supplies: white and Bright Yellow cardstock, Echo Park Celebrate Easter dps, Simon's Some Bunny stamp set and Oval of Flowers stencil, Tonic Nuvo Aquamarine Mousse, Zig markers and water to color chick, my own yellow sequins

I knew I wanted to use the stencil and some of the new mousse, and when I saw the daisy print paper in the paper pack, I decided to use aqua and yellow as my colors.  Everything fell into line nicely after that decision was made.  The mousse is creamy and easy to us and dries to a lovely pearlescent glimmer.  Everything cleans up with water, too!

The Card Kit sold out almost immediately, but the stamp set and this mousse color are available at this writing.  Don't forget that you can subscribe to Simon's Card Kits at a savings of $5.00 a month and never miss another one!

Thanks for stopping by

Elegant Roses

Last week I found a gorgeous card by Lisa Addesa at her blog I'm in Haven that used 2 Simon dies, and I practically fell over myself to make my own version of her card, with some of my favorite things - yellow roses and hugs!

supplies: white, 3 Doodlebug yellows,  Green Apple and Green Leaf cardstock, Simon's Elegant Roses and Partial Cut Leaves dies, Big Scripty Greetings sentiment, Paper Sweeties Cookie Dough flower sequins

I first die-cut my roses, then taped them to my panel temporarily so that I could decide where to place the leaves.   After the leaves were cut and lined with 2 green cardstock colors, I then paper-pieced my roses and attached them to the panel.  Next I stamped my sentiment, popped the panel above my card base, then added some sequins.

It may not be obvious, but the leaves are partial die-cuts, so that they are attached to the panel at one end (and under the flowers), but can be pulled up and popped a bit.  Such a fun dimension!

Thanks, as always, for your visit!  

Inspired by a Textile

I was recently shopping and saw both a top and a pillow that had black and white stripes in the background, and a spray of brightly colored flowers flowing diagonally across it.  So I came home and made a card using those ideas, but substituting butterflies for the flowers.

supplies: white and black cardstock, VersaFine onyx black ink and clear embossing powder, Impression Obsession Painted Stripes cling stamp, butterflies from Stampendous Lilac cling stamp,  Zig watercolor markers, My Favorite Things Smile die

Hope your weekend is off to a great start!

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 your popular Anything Goes!  We're playing with our own Simon Says Stamp goodies!

I decided to bring some sunshine to February for my first card - I love these colors!

supplies: white and black cardstock, Impression Obsession Painted Stripes, ripe persimmon, abandoned coral, fossilized amber, mowed lawn and twisted citron distress inks, Simon's Single Roses and Painted Hello dies, stamped sentiment from Avery Elle Simply Said Hello

My next card uses more spring-like colors:

supplies: white cardstock, Doodlebug dps, Simon's Spring Flowers and sentiment from Friendship Blooms,  Zig watercolor markers,  My Favorite Things Stitched Mini Scallop 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!

Spring is in the Air

Spring has been teasing us lately, and so I made a woodland card that reflects this time of year.  There is no stamping on this one - all dies and a sticker for the sentiment!

supplies: white, light and dark kraft, red, surf blue and green apple cardstock, Taylored Expressions Birch Tree cutting plate, Paper Smooches Bird House dies, twine, Impression Obsession cardinal dies, Tim Holtz Small Talk Occasions sticker

Hope your week will be a banner one!

A favorite Hero Arts stamp

Today at the Hero Arts Flickr group, LaVon is hosting the 148th scramble.  She challenged us to make an interesting background panel.  The scramble part of the challenge means that we have to make a card according to the rules, photograph it, and post it, all within 90 minutes.  As always, I posted my card with just a few minutes remaining.

supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts (retired) Leaf & Floral Background, shaded lilac and blueprint sketch distress inks, Winnie & Walter Happy cutaway, and "birthday" from their Big, Bold Happy set

I used a technique that Cindy first used with this background: stamp in one color of ink, then turn the stamp 180 degrees and restamp using another color of ink.  Then I trimmed my panel, sponged the edges with the darkest ink, and attached it to my white card base.  I used the same inks to ombre the diecut, and to color the small banner which was white embossed.  

This scramble will go on for 24 hours, ending at 12:00 noon Eastern time tomorrow, if you'd like to join in, too!  Thanks for coming by!

Five for Friday!

It's time for our semi-monthly feature at the Tammy Tutterow blog!  Today I made another of Tammy's posies using crinoline, and added it to a tag.

supplies: #8 manila tag, green cardstock, Tammy's Pinked Posies dies, crinoline dyed with a mix of abandoned coral and fossilized amber distress ink, pearl stamens, My Favorite Things Layered Leaves dies, Tammy's Big Cheesecloth cling background stamp, peeled paint distress ink, Tim Holtz Big Chat stickers, swiped with antique linen distress ink, Tim Holtz crinkle ribbon

I hope you'll visit Tammy's blog to see what my teamies did this time!

Simon Says........Fantastic Florals

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

Our theme this week is Fantastic Florals, and we're playing with beautiful Altenew products!

I chose a favorite Altenew multi-step stamp set  and some of the newer Altenew ink colors.

supplies: white cardstock, Altenew Beautiful Day stamp set, Altenew Rose Petal and Green Fields inks, sentiment from Simon's Friendship Blooms, VersaFine Onyx Black ink, Taylored Expressions Garden Party embossing folder, swiped with Rose Quartz ink

The flowers and large leaves are multi-step stamped, but the tiny sprigs are outline only, so I smooshed some of the inks onto an acrylic block, and then used a wet paintbrush to transfer the color to those small images.  And after embossing my background panel, I lightly swiped the lightest rose ink over it to bring out the details even more. 

I used another of my favorite Altenew multi-step stamp sets for my 2nd card:

supplies: white cardstock base, watercolor paper, Altenew Painted Flowers and Painted Greetings, Altenew Sea Shore and Shades of Purple ink sets, VersaFine Onyx Black, Nuvo Crushed Grape and Caribbean Ocean crystal drops, scalloped rectangle die from Blueprints 20

This one started with a scalloped rectangle piece of watercolor paper.  Then I smooshed the 3rd color of each ink set onto a piece of acetate, sprayed with water, and then smooshed the acetate onto the paper, doing each color separately.  Separately I stamped the painted flowers and fussy-cut them out and arranged them onto my background, adding my sentiment and some Nuvo drops.

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!

Happy Valentine's Day!

A quick post today to wish you a Happy Heart Day!  I'm sharing a card I made for a sweet friend - this little bear is the perfect image for the occasion!

supplies: white and doll pink cardstock, Bristol paper, Wild Rose Teddy with Flowers, colored with Zig watercolor markers and water, My Favorite Things Stitched Scalloped Rectangle die

Hope you will spend this day with someone special!

Daffodil Birthday

Happy Sunday!  Here's a card using some new daffodil stamps.

supplies: white and green apple cardstock, Doodlebug Gingham dp, Sunny Studio Daffodil Dreams, Altenew, Hero Arts, and VersaFine onyx black inks, Winnie & Walter Audrey's Cutaways scalloped rectangle die

These are multi-step stamps.  I chose this set because I think daffodils make a great card for a spring birthday, either for a man or lady.  This set has 2 sentiments included in it, this birthday one and a thank you, so you've got everything you need in one package!

Hope you're having a great day!

A Simple Valentine

I have most of my Valentine cards made and mailed, except for a very special one.  It occurred to me that the plush dies don't always have to be used with felt, and this is the resulting card:

supplies: white, schoolhouse red, and green apple cardstock, Simon's Plush Charmed Heart and their small Love You dies, enamel dots

I like the detail that the dots that are to be used for stitching gives to this otherwise simple design. This particular set is currently sold out at Simon, but there are several others available right now.

I'm entering this into the Die Cut Divas current challenge: use pink or red.

Hope this will help you get more mileage out of your dies, too!  Have a good weekend!

Simon Says........CUTE!

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

Our theme this week is Cute, and it's a perfect match for the products made by Wild Rose Studio!

As a Mom of 2 boys, I fell in love with this adorable Teddy stamp, and colored it to make him a little boy..........

supplies: white, cornflower blue, and dark periwinkle cardstock, Bristol paper, a blue gingham dp from Authentique, Teddy with Flowers, colored with my new Zig markers and water,  an altered Stitched Tag, sentiment from Handwritten Sentiments, Blueprints 20 banner

These Wild Rose stamps are so economical that I also chose this adorable "Owls on a Branch" stamp. I know it's mainly for Christmas, but I masked out the stockings and colored it so that it would work for winter, too.  And I sold my cute theme with the sentiment!  This will be going to our granddaughter - her school mascot is an owl, and I think she'll get a kick out of this!

supplies: white, surf blue, and green apple cardstock, Wild Rose Studio Owls on Branch, VersaFine Onyx Black ink, Spectrum Aqua markers to color, sentiment from Your Next Stamp Woodland Cuties,  Simon's Lots of Snowflakes, tumbled glass distress ink, Taylored Expressions Winter Flurry embossing folder, Simon's Stitched Rectangle and DieNamics Stitched Mini Scallop dies (adapted)

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!

Spring Promise

Green, particularly this spring green, is a favorite of mine, and I was pleased to see that it was chosen as this year's Pantone Color of the Year!  At this time of year, making spring cards makes me happy, and helps to get through the winter doldrums.  Spring to me means birds singing and building nests, and my card reflects that feeling.  I used a mix of products.

supplies: white, Green Apple, Audrey Blue, kraft, and red cardstock, Taylored Expressions Leafy Vine embossing folder, Paper Smooches Bird House dies, Memory Box Grove Branch die, Wplus9 Folk Art Florals bird die, Winnie & Walter Big, Bold Spring cutaway, Tim Holtz Small Talk Occasions sticker, string

I hope this helps to start your week off with a smile!

Just for You

I haven't made a wreath card in awhile, so I thought I'd do a simple spring wreath today!

My card uses a well-loved Altenew stamp set that is a multi-step set.  And I used the Altenew inks, which are water-based to smoosh some color onto the Bristol paper background.  

supplies: white cardstock and Bristol paper, Altenew Painted Flowers, Altenew Rose Petal, Shades of Purple, Glacier Caves, Buttercream, Warm Sunshine, Frayed Leaf, and Forest Glades inks, retired Simon/Mama Elephant Summer Garden sentiment, Winnie & Walter Audrey's Cutaways Scalloped Rectangle die

Hope this brightens your day - have a great weekend!

Five for Friday

It's time for another Five for Friday feature at Tammy Tutterow's blog!  Today I used a set of Tammy's floral dies and some crinoline and distress inks to make a flower and a sort of modern vintage card.

supplies: white and periwinkle cardstock, Tammy Tutterow Frayed Posies, blueprint sketch distress ink and water, leaves from Pom Pom Posies, twisted citron distress ink and water, crinoline, stamens, Tim Holtz Doily embossing folder, Taylored Expressions Fancy Banners 2, colored with markers.

It was really fun to make this flower.  I first cut out 4 or 5 layers of each of the 2 flowers in this set from crinoline, then smooshed ink onto my kraft mat and spritzed it with water.  Next I pulled the flowers through the ink until I had the periwinkle color I wanted.  They were then set aside to dry while I made the leaves in the same way.  When everything was dry, I used a thick needle to pierce the centers of each flower, then pushed through the stamens.

I decided to frame my flower with an embossed doily and added this pretty banner as my sentiment.

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

Simon Says........Color of Love

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

Our theme this week is "Color of Love", and we're playing with Reverse Confetti products.  I have 2 cards for you today, in very different color ways.

supplies: white cardstock, dp from Doodlebug Kraft in Color 6" pad, Reverse Confetti Garden Bunch (flowers) and Love Blooms (leaves and sentiment), VersaFine Onyx Black and Altenew inks (Rose Petal, Shades of Purple, Warm Sunshine, Frayed Leaf, and Forest Glades), Simon Stitched Circles and Scallop Stitches dies

I chose a multi-step stamp set and pink and purple inks, stamping several of each of the 3 flowers in the set.  The leaves and sentiment are from another Reverse Confetti set that I already own.  I used the older set on my 2nd card:

supplies: white, red, green, and black cardstock, Reverse Confetti Love Blooms, VersaFine Onyx Black ink, Simon Small Love You die, Sizzix leaf 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!