Flower Bouquet

I have a card today using a brand new Tammy Tutterow cling stamp!  Wait until you see this newest  release - it is spring to the max!!

supplies: white and orchid pink cardstock, Doodlebug purple gingham, Tammy's Flower Bouquet, colored with Zig markers and a bit of water, Die-Namics Wonky Stitched Rectangle die

Wouldn't this be perfect for Mother's Day, or for any special lady's birthday?  Such an easy design - stamp, color, and layer; nice and flat for mailing, and you don't need to add a sentiment - everything is built right in!  

Be sure to visit Tammy's blog to see what my team-mates did this time! 

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

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

Our theme this week is the ever-popular Anything Goes, and the design team are all playing with Stampendous products.  I made 2 cards for you today, both of them flowers and both of them in shades of purple.

Lilacs are probably my favorite flower, so when I saw this cling set, I jumped!

supplies: white cardstock and Bristol paper, Stampendous Cling Lilac, Zig watercolor markers and water,  Signo white gel pen, The Crafter's Workshop Mini Cubist stencil and tumbled glass distress ink, sentiment from (retired) Mama Elephant/Simon Summer Garden, adhesive foam squares

We always had lilac bushes growing up, and they bring back fond memories of home.  I colored these a pinky purple to mimic a transplant that my Dad gave us, and fussy-cut my flower and leaves, then glued the leaves over my stencilled panel and popped the flower up a bit with foam squares - I like the dimension. 

My 2nd card uses a Stampendous set I got a few years ago, which is one of my favorites because of all the different flowers that are in it, along with 2 jars/vases to put them in!  I think the flowers that I used today look like spring violets, and I love seeing them in this canning jar,  also in the set.  And I love how they look mixed with the gingham!

supplies: Bristol paper, lilac cardstock, gingham dp from My Favorite Things Farm Fresh Gingham, Stampendous Build a Bouquet cling stamps, Zig watercolor markers and water, Winnie & Walter Big Bold Seasons cutaway, Simon Scallop Stitches die, adhesive foam squares

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 the Fifth Anniversary of A Blog Named Hero!

Welcome to my stop for today's 5th Anniversary Celebration of A Blog Named Hero!  I have been honored to be a guest designer there several times.  We all share a love of Hero Arts products, and I'm thrilled to be able to be a part of this celebration.  It's taking place over 2 days, and of course there are lots of prizes!  Here's the card I made for it, using some oldies from 2011:

supplies: white cardstock, Doodlebug Gingham petite print, Hero Arts Large Blossom and Sending Smiles Messages, VersaMark ink and white embossing powder, peacock feathers distress ink on flowers, finger dauber, Audrey Blue ink for sentiment, dyed seam binding, white pearls, adhesive foam squares

Hero Arts made several of these negative print stamps that allowed open spaces for coloring the images, while inking the details and background.  I chose to white emboss this one over an aqua gingham design paper.  I darkened the centers of the flowers by dabbing on some peacock feathers distress ink, trimmed the image, then popped it above the card front, adding some of my favorite pearls and a pretty ribbon.

There are prizes to be won for commenting on the cards along today's hop, and there are a separate set of prizes for doing the same for yesterday's hop!  Here are the prizes for today:

• $50 gift card to Simon Says Stamp
• $50 gift card to Gina K Designs
• $25 gift card to Winnie & Walter
• $25 gift card to Lawn Fawn
• $20 gift card to Avery Elle
• prize pack from Mama Elephant
• gift card from Studio Katia
• one Online Card Class of your choice
• one set of distress oxide inks from Jennifer McGuire Ink

Comments must be left by 11:59 pm on Tuesday, March 28, and winners will be announced on March 30.

So get hopping!  Your next stop is Francine Vuilleme - I know she'll have something wonderful to show you!  If you'd like to begin at the start of today's hop, please start at A Blog Named Hero.  

Thanks, as always, for coming by, and enjoy the rest of the hop!

Wild Cuddly Critters

My Simon Says Stamp April Card Kit arrived yesterday; sadly it's already sold out.  But I had fun making some tags using the included action wobblers and the adorable critters in the stamp set.  These will go to our 3 grandchildren - they are still young enough that I think they'll like playing with the wobblers, and they can perhaps hang the tags on a doorknob or drawer pull.......

supplies: white cardstock, Simon's Wild Cuddly Critters stamps, Zig markers to color, #5 kraft tags, dps from Lawn Fawn's Perfectly Plaid Rainbow pad, action wobblers, my own twine/ribbon and googly eyes

There is also a set of Simon cube inks in the kit that are such fun colors!  I've already made a card using them, but that will be shared down the road a bit........

Here's all that was included in the card kit:

The kits have been selling out quickly each month, so if you want to be assured not to miss any of the upcoming ones, go HERE to automatically subscribe.  You'll save yourself $5.00 each month, and will never have to worry about missing another kit!

Simon Says........More than One Die or Punch

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

Our theme this week is "More than One Die or Punch", and my teamies and I are playing with Memory Box products!

First up, a card that combines 2 of my favorite things, hearts and wreaths, in one die:

supplies: white cardstock, Memory Box Heart Party Circle, My Favorite Things Thanks die, Zig watercolor markers and water, Simon Stitched Rectangle die, Scrapbook Adhesives foam squares

After cutting each of my dies, I left them in the scrap of cardstock and watercolored them, using an ombre effect on the sentiment.  Then I popped them out and attached them to my stitched rectangle.  The tiny hearts are pop-outs from the wreath.

My next card uses a fairly new butterly die, paired with a set of pinpoint rectangle dies:

supplies: white, Simon orange peel,  sunshine, and black cardstock, Memory Box Flickering Butterfly Collage and Pinpoint Rectangle dies, sentiment from Simon's Happy Every Day set, retired

For this one, I cut the butterfly 3 times, from black, sunshine, and orange peel cardstocks.  I fussy cut the black one out, attached it to my white background, and then paper-pieced the gold and orange details into it.  I also framed the panel with the same colors, using 2 other sizes of the pinpoint rectangle dies.  To finish I added a sentiment banner embossed in white on black.

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!

Altenew Inspiration Challenge

My friend Virginia is now on Altenew's Design Team and she is hosting this month's Inspiration Challenge there!  I turned once again to my favorite Altenew flower set and used Virginia's colors.

supplies: white cardstock, Avery Elle Wonky Stitches die, Altenew Painted Flowers and Painted Greetings stamps, Paper Sweeties flower sequins to match

I love these bright colors - and it's a fun change from my usual pastels.  I thought this sentiment was the perfect one to go with them, as was the wonky stitches framing; sprinkling on lots of sequins reinforces the celebration theme, too.  I didn't plan it this way, but this looks like a shot from above of these lovely ladies dancing!

Here's Virginia's fun inspiration photo, taken from her travels:

And, since flowers are my favorite motif, I'm also entering my card into The Flower Challenge.

Simon Says...........A Bit o' Green

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

With a nod to the upcoming St. Patrick's Day, our theme this week is "A Bit o' Green", and the design team are using Taylored Expressions products; if you have any of their products, we'd love you to use them, too, but it isn't a requirement to enter.

I used a bit of green and a whole lot of green for my cards this week!

My first card features a Taylored Expressions cutting plate, to make a spring-feeling woodland card.  I mixed 3 distress inks for my background spring green.

supplies: white and Desert Storm cardstock, music dp, Taylored Expressions Birch Tree cutting plate, Avery Elle Kitsch Christmas (deer), Spectrum Aqua markers to color, DieNamics Snow Drifts die, mowed lawn, lucky clover, and twisted citron distress inks and water splatters, sentiment from Simon's Beautiful Ride

I cut my birch trees from music dp; I think this gives a more spring-like feel than stark white cardstock.  Then I sponged my 3 distress inks randomly onto a white cardstock panel and lightly spritzed it with water.  I sponged only mowed lawn onto a 2nd cardstock scrap, spritzed again, die-cut the top edge with a Snow Drifts die, and stamped my sentiment.  These 3 panels were then layered onto the card base.  My little fawns were stamped on a light kraft cardstock and colored with markers before fussy-cutting them and placing on the card.  I was tickled to use them because they were designed by our teamie Caryn!

For my 2nd card, I used a pretty TE bouquet cling stamp, and the leaves and sentiment are my "bit o' green":

supplies: Cornflower Blue and Green Apple cardstock, Bristol paper, Taylored Expressions Wildflower Bouquet, Zig watercolor markers and water to color, Spellbinder's Floral Oval 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!

Hope Blooms

Here's a card I made with the stamp set that I received from Simon's New Beginnings release.  And I used my distress oxide inks again!

supplies: white cardstock, watercolor paper for the flowers, Simon's Hope Blooms stamp set, cracked pistachio, broken china, and wilted violet distress oxide inks, water, tiny sparkly star sequins from a mix by Lucy

I had a leftover background panel that I had pulled through some smooshed and spritzed oxide inks.  So I stamped these big flowers over various areas, and cut them out.  After stamping my sentiment, and arranging my flowers, I removed them and stamped just one of the leaves that are in this set, then watercolored them with the cracked pistachio.  You can see how much paler this color becomes when used this way.

The flower that I used here is the largest from this new set - it has 2 other flowers, 1 in 2 sizes, plus various details, leaves, and berries in it.  I look forward to playing with it again!

I'd like to enter this into this month's The Flower Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by - I'll see you one more time tomorrow before my blog will go quiet for a little while as we pack up and move back home from here in Florida, where we've spent a beautiful couple of months!  I am dreading losing all these gorgeous tropical delights here and finding snow at home......

Be Happy

I'm back today with a card using another of Tammy Tutterow's terrific products.

supplies: white cardstock, Tammy Tutterow Be Happy cling stamp, Zig markers to color, MFT Stitched Scallop Rectangle die, dps from Doodlebug

After coloring the design, pulling the colors from the backing heart paper, I stamped just the heart onto a scrap of coordinating design paper, cut it out, and then popped it above the rest of the card.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Playing with Distress Oxide Inks

I was able to grab 3 Distress Oxide inks from a local scrapbook store and had a little play with them.  Here's my first card:

supplies: white and a scrap of surf blue cardstock, wilted violet, broken china, and cracked pistachio distress oxide inks, Hero Arts Leafy Vines cling and Hello Stamp & Cut set,VersaMark ink and white embossing powder, Lucy's sequins

I first made my background, layering on the colors after smooshing them onto a craft sheet and spritzing them with water.  I heated the panel after every pass-through of the colors, and added water each time.  When I was happy with the results, and sure that my panel was dry, I stamped and white embossed the pretty swirly design, adding my stamped and die-cut sentiment, along with some sequins for sparkle.

Here's another simple design, this time using 2 of the inks for stamping on kraft this time:

supplies: kraft and Audrey Blue cardstock, Hero Arts Leaf & Floral background, broken china and cracked pistachio distress oxide inks, Winnie & Walter Hugs cutaway

Again, after stamping, I lightly spritzed the panel, and the colors became more intense.

I didn't think I needed these new inks, but after playing with just these 3 colors, I'm sold!  I love the soft feel that results.  My next choices will be orange marmalade, fossilized amber,  and worn lipstick.

New Beginnings!

Have you seen the new release at Simon Says Stamp?  I'm swooning over so many of these amazing new products that will help us celebrate Spring!!

My favorites?  More Spring Flowers stamps and dies,  Suzy's In Full Bloom watercolor panels, Hope Blooms stamps, and the new inks!

There will be a blog hop tomorrow beginning at the Simon Blog, to show off these gorgeous new products - I'll see you there!

Simon Says..........For a Special Lady

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

Our theme this week is "For a Special Lady", and the team are highlighting Penny Black products.  

My first card shows an all-over floral design, and I colored it with my Mom in mind - these are her colors:

supplies: watercolor paper and black cardstock, Penny Black Bed of Roses, Zig Watercolor markers, sentiment from Simon's Best Mom Ever

Since there is a lot of black details in the outlines of this stamp, I framed the panel and stamped the sentiment on black.

Next up, put on your sunglasses, I used fluorescent markers for this next one.

supplies: bristol paper and white cardstock, Penny Black Centerpiece cling stamp, sentiment from the Friendship set, Zig markers and very little water this time, Simon Stitched Rectangle die, adhesive foam squares

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!

Wishing You Joy

The challenge this time at the new Flower Challenge is Anything Goes.  I love these challenges where I am not limited to products, so I pulled out an old but retired favorite.  I was inspired by an episode of HGTV: a grey couch that had pillows of purples and blues.

supplies: white and smoke grey cardstock, (retired) Technique Tuesday Two Steppin' stamps, Altenew inks in Persian Blue, Deep Iris, and Puffy Heart, and Forest Glades, Simon Sending & Wishing sentiment, Sparkling Clear sequins

I don't think I've ever used a grey background, but it's a nice change, isn't it?  This set includes an outline stamp plus a stamp that will add color to the inner petals of the flower.  Since they were mounted against a grey background instead of my usual white, I wanted to color in the remainder of the petals.  Because these Altenew inks are water-based, I was able to squiggle them on an acrylic block, spritz them with water, and use them to color in the outer petals.

I hope your week is off to a great start!

Lime & Aqua

I saw that the current Card Concept challenge is Lime & Aqua, 2 of my favorite colors!

supplies: white cardstock, dps from Doodlebug Gingham pad, Altenew Painted Flowers, My Favorite Things Stitched Rectangles Scallops and sending hugs dies, Lucy's sequins, adhesive foam squares

Gingham and these painted flowers are dear to my heart, and I think they make a sweet pairing!

I'm guessing that this style is Clean & Layered, but I'm never sure......I hope that one of the ladies at the challenge will set me straight.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Five for Friday

Here's my addition to Tammy's Five for Friday feature today.

supplies: white cardstock, Tammy Tutterow Flower Swag 3 and Simple Line Border, Simon's Sending Happy Thoughts, Zig markers and water , sequins to match

I stamped the flower swag twice,  then watercolored and cut them out and attached them at opposite corners of the line border frame, leaving enough space to stamp my sentiment between them.  The line border frame is one of those stamps that will be invaluable, I think - it doesn't take away from a design, but can be used as a fun accent!  Tammy has a more ornate frame coming soon - see it here. 

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

Simon Says........Tag, You're It!

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

Our theme this week is "Tag, You're It!", and we're playing with Ranger products.

Making tags has really grown on me, and I enjoyed making 2 tags today for this challenge, both of them featuring some lovely butterfly dies.  This first one uses a Tim Holtz stencil and distress inks for its background.

supplies:  Ranger #8 Manila Craft Tag, Tim Holtz Gothic stencil, peacock feathers, twisted citron, mowed lawn, blueprint sketch, and wilted violet distress inks, mini ink blending tool, Detailed Butterflies dies, black cardstock, Big Chat stickers, Tim Holtz crinkle ribbon

And for the second one, I used an embossing folder to make my background, and some much softer colors.

supplies: Ranger #8 Manila Craft Tag, Cuttlebug Anna Griffin Poppy embossing folder,  mowed lawn and spun sugar distress inks, Tim Holtz Detailed Butterflies dies, Big Chat stickers, Tim Holtz crinkle ribbon

To make this background, I first embossed my tag in the folder, then I lightly stroked a spun sugar ink pad across the raised (floral) surface.  Next I put the tag back into my folder, inked the top of the folder in mowed lawn, then closed the folder and ran it through my cuttlebug again.  Despite being careful to line up the tag during this step, it evidently moved a tiny bit, and gave this effect that allows part of the manila color to show through.  I'll probably never be able to achieve the same effect!  But for that reason, I chose to use the same manila to cut my butterflies.  

I love the garden effect this tag has, and chose these words for my sentiment - don't our gardens reflect our dreams?

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!