Stitched Turnabout

Here are 2 cards made with the Stitched Turnabout stamp set from Concord &9th.

Concord & 9th has done it again - love this sweet design!  I used only the small part of the overall stamp.  When I looked at the design, I was taken with the flourish shapes, and so my first card is stamped in just a blue ink to emphasize them.  I love this country blue shade, and I thought a gingham accent would be pretty with the design.

supplies: white card, design papers from Sunny Studios Classic Gingham and the reverse of a Doodlebug Gingham-Linen Rainbow Petite Print pads, Stitched Turnabout, Altenew Persian Blue mini cube, sentiment from Neat & Tangled Hand Stitched set

Then I chose 4 pastel inks and made a 2nd card.

supplies: white card, Doodlebug pink floral dp, Stitched Turnabout with Jelly Bean, Warm Sunshine, Lavender Fields and Pink Diamond inks, a PTI Mix & Mat die, Wplus9 Hand Lettered Hello sentiment

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you'll visit me again tomorrow for a very special Simon Wednesday Card challenge - we're celebrating a very special occasion, with prizes to match!

A Birthday Card

Our oldest grandson turned 10 yesterday!  Goodness, where has the time gone?!  I thought I'd share the card I made him.

supplies: white and Lipstick Red cardstock, vellum, Concord&9th Bitty Burst Turnabout stamp and Jig, Altenew mini inks in primary colors, Simon's Happy Birthday Circle die, Your Next Stamp Bold Numbers dies, MFT Wonky Stitched Rectangle die, various star embellishments

Hope your week is off to a great start! 

Flower Frenzy!

Two posts in one day!  I recently ordered the Spellbinders Small Dies of the Month - what a good price for all that you get!  Here's the first card I made with them.

supplies: white cardstock, Doodlebug patterned papers, Small Dies of the Month for April, Your Next Stamp Mini Flower Splatter stamp, turquoise ink, Simon's (evidently retired) Happy & Smile sentiment, adhesive foam to separate flower layers

I've used this aqua/blue/purple combination before, but this time I threw in some orange.  The sweet little flower splatters are a nice touch with all the big die-cut flowers, and now I have another birthday card ready for when I need one.  I separated all the flower layers with foam adhesive and curled up the petals for even more dimension; this one will best be hand-delivered!  

This uses just 2 of the 3 flowers in the kit, and there are also buds and single leaves, plus a hello sentiment - as I said, very good value!

Some Floral Wreaths

When I saw this pretty Floral Wreath set recently, I couldn't wait to bring it home - you know my love affair with wreaths!  I have 2 colorings of it today, one bright and one pastel.

supplies: Bristol, white, Green Apple, and purple card, Studio Katia Floral Wreath, colored in Nuvo alcohol markers, Hearts embossing folder, adhesive foam squares to lift up wreath

supplies: Bristol, black, and yellow card, Floral Wreath, Zig markers and water, Spring Blessings die, cut twice

This is a nice big stamp that easily fills an A2 card, easy to color for these old eyes!  And there are a fun variety of sentiments to mix and match to go along with it!

Alcohol Pearls

In this month's Simon Card Kit are 3 full-size bottles of alcohol pearls, blending solution, and some yupo paper, so here's a card that I made with them.

supplies: white cardstock, Yupo paper, Sublime and Tranquil alcohol pearls inks, and blending solution, Tim Holtz Flourish embossing folder, Spring Blessings die, MFT Stitched Blooms dies, Limeade sprinkles for flower centers

I squirted on the 2 colors of pearl alcohol inks along with some blending solution, and then used a felt-covered tool to pounce the colors around until I was pleased with the results.  The resulting color mix is a beautiful spring green with a lovely pearlescence, and that's when I decided to make a card for the season.  

After allowing the panel to dry a short time, I then put it inside the embossing folder, ran it through my machine, then lightly sanded the surface of the panel to bring out more of the flourish details.

The original plan was to cut the panel into pieces and just add my die-cut sentiment, but it was on the boring side, so I quickly cut some flowers to add to the mix and used some green enamel dots in their centers.  This design puts me in mind of sweet woodruff when it blooms ......beautiful green leaves with simple little white flowers.

Here's the Card Kit for May, which includes 3 of these inks plus so much more!

I hope spring is moving along in your neck of the woods.....we're having lots of rain at the moment, so that should foresee lots more green in the future!

Hello, My Friend

Here's a card that gets your attention with its big bold design!

supplies: white, 2 yellows, Apple Green card, dps from MFT Itsy Bitsy Polka Dots and Black and White Stripes pads, Pink Fresh Studio Hello with a Bouquet die, Avery Elle Simply Said Hello stamped sentiment

This took a little minute, but I wanted to paper-piece it first time out.  I used a favorite color combo of black, white, and yellow.  Next time, I'll use this as a stencil to color in the flowers........

Thanks for stopping by! 

May Card Kit - Delicate Flowers

What a pretty mix of elements we got in the latest Simon Says Stamp Card Kit!  For my first card, I decided to play with the washi tape and the biggest flower in the stamp set.

supplies: white cardstock, green dp from included Let Your Soul Bloom paper pad, flower, leaves, and sentiment from Delicate Flowers, Tonic Nuvo Rich Reds and Woodland Greens markers, washi tape from kit, Stitched Rectangle die

I first used a stitched rectangle die to cut out a frame from white card and a rectangle from the design paper.  I wrapped strips of washi around the frame before attaching it to my card base, and then inserted the green rectangle with the stamped sentiment.  Separately I stamped, colored, and cut out the flower and some extra leaves and popped them up for dimension.  

There's lots more fun to be had with this kit - I want to play with the alcohol pearls and the silver sparkle sheets and more of the pretty patterned papers!

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

Happy Wednesday!  Welcome to this week's challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!  

Our theme this week is Anything Goes, and the team is highlighting Concord & 9th goodies!

For my first card, I chose a little turnabout stamp set, which I think is the perfect "confetti" look for a birthday card or anything celebratory.

supplies: white and pink card, Concord & 9th Bitty Burst Turnabout clear stamp set and Turnabout Jig, Altenew Painted Flowers, mini ink cubes in Puffy Heart, Purple Wine, Pinkaliscious, Lavender Fields, Deep Iris, Volcano Lake, and Lagoon, Simon's Happy sentiment set and Stitched Rectangle die

These new Turnabout sets now have a transparent guide to help line up the stamp perfectly, and along with a turnabout jig, the hardest part of making a turnabout background is now choosing your colors!  And I used the same ink colors for my flowers, so everything works perfectly together.

This next card is a little more detailed, using a combination of another turnabout set with a stamped plaid, both of them Concord & 9th products.

supplies: white, yellow, and 2 greens card, a scrap of Doodlebug floral dp, Concord & 9th Lovely Blossoms Turnabout stamp set, Turnabout Jig, Altenew yellow and green inks, Concord & 9th Plaid Background stamp, Simon's Beautiful Day sentiment, My Favorite Things Stitched Blooms dies

I stamped a panel of the Lovely Blossoms Turnabout, then sliced it diagonally and added it to a stamped plaid panel.  Then I stamped my sentiment and added the die-cut flower and leaves.

Now it's your turn!  We have a $50.00 gift certificate 

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

Another Folded Card

I wanted to make another card like yesterday's, but change up the colors and patterns.  Back when I started making cards, my mentor used a mix of patterned papers with her stamping, and I still love mixing patterns when I make a card.

supplies: Cotton Candy, white, light gold and sage green card, dps from Simple Stories Spring Farmhouse paper pad, Spellbinders Large and Small December 2018 dies of the month, Simon's Stitching Butterflies dies

These are something a little different from my usual top-folding cards, and are easy to put together, and a great way to use those pretty design papers!  Here's a shot of my card from a different angle.

When folded these cards fit into an A2 envelope, but are 6 1/4" wide when extended fully.  There's room on the reverse of the flip circle to stamp your own sentiment or sign it or to embellish it some more......

Spring Fling

I'm so pleased with the darling papers from Lawn Fawn's new Spring Fling paper pad!  It has a floral background in 6 different colorways, and 6 coordinating colors to mix and match with the floral.  Here are 2 cards using them.

supplies: Cotton Candy cardstock, Spring Fling dps in the pinks and yellows, Simon's Thanks Scallop Border die, stitched flowers and leaves from MFT Stitched Blooms and Lil' Inker Perky Posies die sets

I've always made the scallop border from white cardstock, but the cotton candy is a perfect match with the floral pattern paper, so it makes a nice change!

Next I used the blues and yellows paired with a Spellbinders die of the month.

supplies: white card, Spring Fling and a plaid dps, December 2018 Large and Small Dies of the Month, Doodlebug sprinkles

The large die of the month makes an A2-size tri-fold card and the small dies of the month add some extra sentiment dies for the circle element.  I embellished with the flower and leaves that come in the small die set.

Here's what it looks like when it's extended a bit more.

I hope you'll come back again tomorrow for a 2nd card using these same dies, but with different papers and embellishments.  Thanks for your visit!

Christ is Risen!

I snagged myself one of the beautiful floral cross dies from a recent Simon Fresh Bloom release, and here is what I envisioned when I first saw it.

supplies: white, Surf Blue, Green Apple, and 2 pink cardstocks, Outline Floral Cross and Hemstitch Oval dies, sentiment from Tiny Words Faith, adhesive foam strips to raise cross

I cut the cross, glued it inside my oval, then inlaid the flowers and leaves back into the design.  I plan to make several of these and try some different color combinations.

Enjoy your weekend!

Springtime Tulips

I recently won this sweet Memory Box die on IG, and thought it would fit in nicely with my (apparant) pink tulip phase!  (see my last post)

supplies: white, Green Apple, and rose card, Lawn Fawn blue Watercolor dp, Memory Box Springtime Tulips die, Sunny Studios Quilted Hearts embossing folder, sentiment from (retired) Flower Friend

Hope spring has arrived for you!

Simon Says........Spring!

Happy Wednesday!  Welcome to this week's challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!  

Our Karin has put together a sweet Spring Mood Board to inspire this week's cards, and my teamies and I are playing with Simon Says Stamp exclusives:

I zeroed in on those bright pink tulips at the top of the board and made 2 cards this week, one using stamps and one using a die.

supplies: white, black, and Green Apple card, Bristol paper, Simon's Spring Flowers stamps, Zig markers and water, Simon Four Seasons die, MFT Wonky Stitched Rectangle die

Next I used this pretty little Sweet Tulip die:

supplies: white, 3 pinks, robin's egg, and Green Apple card, Sunny Studio Gingham Pastels dp,    Simon Sweet Tulip die and (retired) Flower Friend sentiment, adhesive fun foam

I cut the tulip once from all of the colored card stocks, then attached the white one to a panel of adhesive backed-foam, sticky-side up.  Then I simply pieced in the tulip and leaves details from the colored die-cuts.

Now it's your turn!  We have a $50.00 gift certificate 

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

Foiling a Stencil

I ordered a few new things from Simon's Blossoms & Butterflies release and received them yesterday!  Here's my first play with the new stencil called Bouquet of Roses.

supplies: white card, gold glitter, and mirror gold card, Bouquet of Roses stencil, transfer gel, Emerald Watercolor foil, peacock feathers oxide ink, Thanks die

The above picture shows the card tilted to catch the foil colors of peacock, green, and gold.  Here's what the card looks like upright.

I applied the transfer gel throught my stencil onto a white card panel.  The gel is shiny.  I set it aside to dry for a few hours (and dinner) and then placed a piece of the watercolor foil on top and heated it with my laminator.  It was pretty, but I didn't like the contrast of the foiling against bright white, so I then sponged on some peacock feathers oxide ink.  Then I mounted my panel onto gold glitter card and added a gold foil sentiment.  I didn't want to cover up any more of the design than I had to, so this small thanks die fit the bill perfectly! 

Hope your Sunday is going well - it's a bit dreary here, but things are greening up and popping up, so it's a great trade-off!

Sending Hugs

Here's a card that uses dies almost exclusively and a mix of different companies.

supplies: white, Cotton Candy, 4 peach to coral tones, Green Apple, and Green Leaf cardstock, Altenew Rose Flurries dies,  framing dies from MFT and PTI, Simon Sketched Flowers sentiment

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

A Spring Wreath

We're home from Florida and I'm able to use all my supplies again here at home!  I've been itching to try Tammy Tutterow's Crafter's Edge fabric dies with some felt (up 'til now I've been using papers), and here is my first play, a little 9" twig wreath.

supplies: twig wreath, Tammy's Beautiful Succulents 3 for the flowers, and a leaf each from the Foliage and Posey Flowers 4 fabric cutting die sets, Taylored Expressions Avocado, Cotton Candy, Lilac, and an unknown pale yellow, pale green buttons, and some pale green hand-dyed binding to wrap the wreath.

Here's a closer look at the flowers:

All of my supplies were what I had on hand.  At some point I may replace the binding with a green gingham ribbon, if I can find the right shade.   I simply cut out the flowers and leaves on my Spellbinders Platinum machine, using a metal shim, and secured the flowers together with a button center, then sewed a leaf or 2 to each.  After wrapping my wreath, I used a course twine to sew the flowers and leaves on, adding a glue dot to the leaves on each end to hold them to the wreath and prevent them from flopping over while hanging.

It was nice to bring a little spring inside while we're waiting for it to arrive outside!  Thanks for stopping by!

Simon's Blossoms & Butterflies Release!

Simon Says Stamp has a new release debuting today: Blossoms & Butterflies!  I was fortunate to have been sent this gorgeous cling background stamp called Floral Mix Background!

supplies: white and watercolor card, vellum, Floral Mix Background cling stamp, VersaMark ink and white embossing powder, Zig markers and water, Beautiful Day sentiment, Leanna Butterfly die, Tiny Heart sprinkle

You may recognize this art, as this is a mix of some favorite clear stamps from the past: More Spring Flowers, Even More Spring Flowers, and Summer Flowers!

The nice thing about stamps like this is that you can go to town and color it up using your favorite medium, like I did above, or you can just stamp it over an inked background, like I did next.

supplies: white and black card, Floral Mix Background cling stamp, squeezed lemonade, carved pumpkin, worn lipstick, and picked raspberry distress oxide inks, Painted Hello and Hemstitch Rectangle dies

Be sure to visit THIS PAGE to see the rest of the release - my favorites are: Outline Butterflies cling stamp, the coordinating Comfort and Prayers clear stamps, Bouquet of Roses stencil, and the gorgeous Floral Mom die.

As usual, plan on a blog hop this coming Friday AND Saturday, and a Facebook Live on Friday at 12:30 pm sharp!  See you then!

Simon Says.........No Designer Paper

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

Our theme this week is "No Designer Paper", and the team is showcasing Picket Fence Studios products.  As soon as I saw this canning jar bouquet, I grabbed it!

supplies: white and Surf Blue card, Picket Fence Forgot to Say Thank You clear stamp set, Zig markers and water, Altenew Lace die, tumbled glass distress ink, adhesive foam squares to pop up jar and flowers

Now it's your turn!  We have a $50.00 gift certificate 

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

Something a Little Different

Recently Betty sent me some panels covered in wide washi tape after I had admired her work with it........I finally found some time to have a play!

supplies: white card, wide washi from The Ton, Hemstitch Rectangle die and dusty pink embroidery floss, MFT Sending Hugs sentiment dies, DCWV Metallics paper pad, adhesive foam squares to lift up flowers

I first trimmed a washi panel slightly smaller than A2 size, then die-cut the Hemstitch Rectangle, and sewed through the holes with embroidery thread, 6 strands.  I fussy-cut the floral spray from another of the panels, and popped it above the card, adding my die-cut sentiment, cut from rose-gold foil metallic.  The washi has rose-gold foiling and is really lovely, so I wanted to add a bit more of that metallic feel to reinforce it.  

Many thanks, Betty - what a thoughtful thing to do!

Simon Says.......Animal Antics

Happy Wednesday - welcome to our challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

Our theme this week is Animal Antics, and we're featuring Hello Bluebird products.  

supplies: white and kraft card, dps from Sunny Studio Gingham Pastels and Doodlebug Floral Graph Rainbow Petite Prints pads, Hello Bluebird Deer Friend clear stamp sets, Tonic markers, Concord & 9th Bitty Burst Turnabout, Altenew mini inks, Doodlebug Tiny Hearts sprinkles

Now it's your turn!  We have a $50.00 gift certificate 

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!  I can't wait to see what you all make this week!