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

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

This week our theme is Anything Goes, and my teamies and I are using Hero Arts products.

My first card is a really simple design, featuring a beautiful color layering set.
This summer we had a pair of bluebirds nesting in our yard - a big deal for me - until now I have only seen ONE bluebird my entire life!  They are such a brilliant blue!  I played with a million colors of ink trying to get just the right combination - how'd I do?

supplies: white, blue and rust cardstock, Hero Arts Color Layering Bird and Branch and sentiment from (retired) Cherish Yesterday, Simon's Stitched Rectangle dies, 2 shades of blue sequins

Next up, I changed gears and used a clear coffee set that I've wanted since last year!

supplies: white, green, and Schoolhouse Red cardstock, various older Christmas design papers, Hero Arts Coffee Cup Tags, Red Royal, Soft Granite, and Cottage Ivy inks, Simon's Stitched Rectangle die, red pearls, twine

I simply stamped and cut out the cups, added some holly sprigs to them, and placed them against a birch bark paper, then framed that panel up with green and a simple plaid.  This set has sleeves and lots of sentiments to add to them, and were meant to be used for tags, but this time I decided to show off those pretty cup designs - don't they remind you of the Starbucks' ones from last year?

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!

Let's Celebrate!

Since it's back-to-school time, I'd thought I'd celebrate summer one last time, and pulled out this little Hero Arts silhouette woodblock.  I used a black and white color scheme, and added bright summery colors.

supplies: white cardstock, patterned and solid papers from (retired) Simple Stories DIY Boutique, Hero Arts It's a Parade woodblock stamp, banner from Simon's Baby Party Animals, sentiment from Simon's Birthday Bits, Lawn Fawn Stitched Scallop Borders die, Memento Tuxedo Black marker and a ruler to draw pole lines for banner

I added a little banner to the parade of kids, and paper-pieced it from papers in the same set as the stripes and dots.

Simon's September Card Kit "Best Birthday"

Little heart shakers???  YES, please!  And what could be a better match than scrumptious girly Doodlebug Fairy Tale papers!  Here's the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit for September:

I made a card using the papers and extras, no stamping this time, and packed it full of hearts!

supplies: white card base, custom papers inspired by the Doodlebug Fairy Tale collection, custom sprinkles inspired by the same, heart shaker tag and shaker, my own mix of sequins for inside, my own Doodlebug cupcake twine

One of the papers in this collection is made up of lots of different stripes, so I sliced off a few of them for the bottom of my tag.  I used another of the papers, pink hearts, for my scalloped background, and its reverse, heart stripes, for inside the shaker.  These tiny shakers couldn't be easier to put together - the shaped shakers have adhesive all ready to go on them!

For anyone with daughters or granddaughters, this kit is a must!  Don't wait too long!

Wood Hello

On Instagram, Lisa Spangler posted a picture of her visit to The Pioneer Woman Mercantile in Pawhuska, OK.  When I saw THIS wall, I practically fell over myself to make a card inspired by it.  Isn't it amazing?

So last night before I went to bed, I pulled out some wood design papers, and this morning I got to work.

supplies: Simon's Dark Chocolate card stock, dps from SN@P! Wood & Notebook Basics pad, Tim Holtz Mixed Media 2 lace die, Simon's Painted Hello and Stitched Rectangle die, Avery Elle Simply Said Hello sentiment, teresa Collins wood dots

I simply trimmed the darker wood plank paper with the largest of the Simon Stitched Rectangles, then cut out 2 of the lace design dies, and then glued that over the lighter woodgrain backing.  I added a dark chocolate die-cut sentiment and some wood dots.

I am definitely putting this place on my list for the next time we get out to that part of our country!  Thanks for coming by today - hope your weekend is a great one!

When Autumn Leaves.......A Set of Cards

Can you feel the change in the air?  Fall is on the way, and I am delighted!  I've been itching to start some cards for the season,  so I decided to use this pretty heart-shaped leaf die and pair it with a favorite sentiment.  And HERE's my favorite rendition of that music!

supplies: cream cardstock and vellum, Concord & 9th Layering Leaves die, distress inks and blending tools, Impression Obsession Autumn Leaves sentiment, VersaMark ink and Ranger copper embossing powder, sequins

I used the leaf die to cut out a pattern of swirling leaves from my card stock, then re-inserted the leaves back into place.  My background is simply a sponging of fall distress inks, spritzed with water.  And I used the sequins mainly to cover the places where I applied glue to the vellum, and then outwards from there.

I made that first card yesterday and this morning, decided I wanted to play with the same elements again, moving that sentiment down to the right corner.  So I started off by doing just that - stamping the sentiment and embossing it in the same copper I used yesterday.  I did it 3 times, but the powder just blew away when I heated it.  So then I changed my powder to another copper one, and you can see the results.  It isn't a fine-detail powder, and it has more glitter in it, and although it is embossed better to begin with, the chunky glitter in it has been knocked off as I worked on the rest of my design......sometimes you just can't win!  Maybe I need another VersaMark pad?  I decided to share it anyway.

supplies: cream and Simon's Orange Peel card stock, negative die-cut from Concord & 9th Layering Leaves die, fall distress inks, Concord & 9th Give Thanks clear stamps,  Impression Obsession Autumn Leaves sentiment, Zing Copper glitter finish embossing powder, Simon Stitched Rectangle die, copper sequins

I like the little starry seed stamp from the set that I added to the open spaces this time.  The leaves were "stenciled" on using the negative heart leaf die-cut, and then I over-stamped the veins.  If you compare my results with the next card, where I used a stamp to make the hearts, stenciling allows you to shade with different colors, whereas stamping with multiple distress inks just looks kind of blotchy.....

Looking through my fall stash of stamps, I rediscovered this text background, and started with that one for my final card.  It trims nicely using Simon's largest Stitched Rectangle die, and then I used the heart leaf and matching veins stamps to randomly scatter the leaves over it, again using the same distress inks.  This time I added gold sequins.

supplies: cream and yellow card stock, Stampendous Autumn Words woodblock stamp, Concord & 9th Give Thanks clear stamps, same distress inks, Simon's Stitched Rectangle, gold sequins

Thanks for reading all the way down to this point, and for bearing with my experiments today!  I think I've gotten fall out of my system - for a week or so!

Simon Says........Back to School

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

This week our theme is "Back to School" and we are playing with Avery Elle products.  I chose a bookmark die and made some personalized bookmarks for 3 pretty special little people.  The school that they go to has an owl for its mascot.

supplies: white cardstock, Avery Elle Bookmark die, Technique Tuesday Wonderful Owl, Simon (retired) Simple Letter Outlines, markers to color, washi tape, various ribbons to match

I doubled up each bookmark, using a blank one behind the stamped one, to hide the marker showing through the back, and also to make it stronger.  

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 that you have a few more days, until the end of August, for your kids to enter our Simon Kids' Vacation challenge!

Thanks a Bunch!

I made a thank you card for a friend:

supplies: white and black cardstock, background from Simple Stories Wood & Gingham pad, Stampendous Build a Bouquet cling stamps, Spectrum Aqua markers and water to color, sentiment from Hero Arts Sunshine Daisies, MFT Wonky Stitched Rectangle die, May Arts twine, pale pink pearl

When I secured everything down to my background, I added adhesive to the centers only of my flowers and leaves so that they would ruffle and stand up from the card a bit.  She has the same sensibilities as me and I know she'll love this jar full of posies!

I hope you'll visit again tomorrow for my post for the Simon Wednesday challenge.

A Beachy Wreath

It's been kind of overcast and much cooler today, and I wanted to make a card for no other reason than to create.  Here's what I came up with, using lots of my favorite motifs.

supplies: white, kraft, Simon's Audrey Blue, Surf Blue, Green Apple and Green Leaf cardstock, Impression Obsession Wooden Plank cling, Hero Arts Soft Granite ink, Memory Box Grapevine Wreath (retired, but THIS Simon one looks identical to me), Lil Inker Perky Posies, Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaf, and Winnie & Walter Hugs dies, aqua pearls

I'm still in love with how easy this IO cling makes creating a plank background, and there is just something about a wreath that always appeals to me, so I combined the two, and gave the card a beachy theme against white-washed wood.  And I love the little stitched details on the flowers and leaves.  This was pure pleasure to put together!

Hope you're having a great weekend, enjoying the last of summer!

Posies and Gingham

It's Five for Friday at Tammy Tutterow's blog, and here's my contribution......since we're nearing the end of summer, I thought I'd use some bright colors for a change, although these particular ones on this first card would also work for fall, don't you think?

supplies: white cardstock, Tammy's Posie Parade 2-step stencil, Tiny Sentiments cling, Frayed Posies flowers and leaves from Pom Pom Posies dies, distress inks, finger dauber, Simon's Stitched Rectangle dies, yellow button and twine

The background/frame is a 2-step stencil which I daubed with various summery distress inks.  One of the stencils has all the flower bases on it, and the 2nd overlying one has the flower centers and the leaves.  I used some of the same inks to sponge my flower dies and leaves and added a big yellow button to pull that color into the center.  The Tiny Sentiments are proving to be so useful - they cover all kinds of occasions and are the perfect size!

Next up, another card mixing stencils and stamps:

supplies: white cardstock, Tammy's Gingham 2-step stencil, broken china distress oxide ink, Flower Swag 5 and one of the Tiny Sentiments cling stamps, Zig markers, MFT Stitched Mini Scallop Square die, adhesive foam squares

I hope you'll visit Tammy's Blog to see what my talented sisters have done this time!

Simon Says........Add a Sentiment

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

Our theme this week is "Add a Sentiment", and the team are all playing with Impression Obsession goodies!

For my card today, I used a fun cling that is sentiment and image in one!

supplies: Bristol paper, Doodlebug printed papers, Impression Obsession Without Cake, Zig markers, My Favorite Things Wonky Stitched Rectangle die, Hero Arts Prisma glitter and glue pen, tiny pearls

I used some fluorescent markers to color this, and added glittered icing and a few teensy pearls to the cake.  Don't you love this sentiment?

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!

Better than Sprinkles!!

Summer's coming to a close too quickly, so I thought I'd share this cute ice cream card today.  I'll eat ice cream during any season, but I may be in the minority........

supplies: white, kraft, mint, cotton candy, dark chocolate, schoolhouse red cardstock, Tammy's Ice Cream Cone stamps and dies set, Zig markers to color, My Favorite Things Wonky Stitched die, sparkling clear sequins, glossy accents on cherry

Tammy's May 2017 release had several large stamp and die sets - this is one of them.  With the ice cream cone dies included you can stamp and cut each part of the ice cream cone on colored cardstock, then assemble it back together by paper-piecing the parts - a great thing for someone who doesn't want to do alot of coloring.  I added some glossy accents on my cherry for even more dimension!

What's your favorite ice cream flavor?  Mine is anything with chocolate!

Couldn't Sleep Last Night......

.......so I designed this.  It's really a CASE of my own card HERE.

supplies: white, yellow/gold, and charcoal cardstock, dp from retired Teresa Colins Carolina Breeze pad, Hero Arts Artist Butterfly, grey marker and mustard seed distress ink to color, Simon's Painted Hugs die, sparkling clear sequins

Is it too early for a nap?  

Heartful

One of the many things Tammy Tutterow and I have in common is our love of all things hearts!  So when I received this sweet Polka Heart stencil from Tammy earlier this week, I thought I'd do a card full of hearts!

supplies: Simon Cotton Candy and black cardstock and Bristol paper, Tammy's Thank You cling and the smaller of her Polka Heart stencils, spun sugar distress ink for stencilling, and Zig markers to color, Simon's Stitched Rectangle die, adhesive foam squares

I first stamped the Thank You heart on Bristol paper, then masked it and stencilled around it using spun sugar distress ink.  After coloring the heart details and sponging on more spun sugar in the center of the heart, I trimmed the panel with a stitched rectangle, tightly framed it in black cardstock and popped that above my pink card base.  I separately stamped, colored, and cut out the roses and popped them above the design.

Sorry I haven't been around as often as I usually am......family priorities have been keeping me out of the craft room.

Simon Says.........For a Child

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

This week our challenge is to make something "for a child".  My teamies and I are playing with Neat & Tangled products.  

supplies: white, tan, kraft, and Surf Blue cardstock, scraps of old design papers for sea and cloudy sky, Neat & Tangled Yo Ho Ho stamp set, Simon's Stitched Circle die, Lawn Fawn Stitched Scallop Border die, DieNamics Blueprints 20 banner, Zig markers to color

There are lots of darling pirate stamps in this set - I just chose a few of them and made my little scene.  I didn't have very much of the cloud and sea paper, so I used what I had and cut them into partial circles, inserting the pirate ship between them, to mimic the view through the spy-glass!  This card will be perfect for our youngest grandson's birthday in September!

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!

We also have a special challenge for children between the ages of 2 and 16! CLICK HERE or on the logo to go directly to the challenge page

All Seasons Tree

This is an older Simon die, but I just recently rediscovered it on Pinterest (mostly from Lisa's blog!) and I thought I'd have a play with a summer version for my first time using it.  I love this combination of green, kraft, and chocolate!

supplies: white, Green Apple, Dark Chocolate and kraft cardstock, All Seasons Tree and Stitched Rectangle dies

I left this one without a sentiment.......I'll add a banner one when I send it.

For my 2nd card, I did add a sentiment.  The Vintage Photo ink is a perfect match for kraft.

supplies: white, kraft, and Green Apple cardstock, All Seasons Tree die and a retired Hero Arts sentiment, VersaFine Vintage Sepia ink

Both cards use the inlaid die technique - although there are tiny leaf dies included (which I know I'll use for the autumn version when I make it), it is much easier to just put the inlaid panel over another color of cardstock to give the leaves detail......

I think this design will be very useful for masculine cards.

A mix of favorites

Today I used a favorite wooden plank cling stamp along with lots of other things that are favorites, too, for my card.  This one just makes me smile - it was fun to create and I love the results!

supplies: white, pale gold, and Simon Surf Blue cardstock, Impression Obsession Wooden Plank, VersaMark ink and Simon white embossing powder, Altenew Painted Flowers, My Favorite Things Thanks die, tonic eyelet lace punch, Lucy's sequin mix 

I white embossed the planks on a piece of Surf Blue cardstock, trimmed it to fit a white card base, and then added the other elements, cutting the sentiment 3 times and stacking them.

I love the contrast of the "soft" lace and flowers against the "hard" wood plank background!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Simon Says Stamp Encouraging Words Blog Hop!

Welcome to my stop on the Simon Encouraging Words Blog Hop!  The hop started yesterday and continues today.

I was sent the new Suzy Watercolor Paintable Prints set called Fruit Puns.  Here are 2 cards plus 2 panels that I watercolored with my Spectrum Aqua markers and water.

Since these panels are A2 card sized, they take just a tiny bit of trimming to frame with a colored cardstock to make these simple cards.  There are 9 panels in the set, which is made of nice heavy watercolor paper, and all of the sentiments are punny ones!  Aren't they fun?   Here's what the whole set looks like:

You should hop over now to one of my favorite card makers,  Lisa Addesa !   Or if you haven't started the hop yet, you can begin at the Simon Says Stamp blog. 

Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25.00 coupon at EACH STOP along the blog!  That's 11 winners from just today's hop (and don't forget to do the same for the blogs on the Friday hop!)  The winners will be chosen randomly from the comments at each blog, so make sure you leave a comment at each stop to increase your chances of winning.  The winners will be posted on the Simon blog next Tuesday, August 8.

Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!