Some Birthday Cards

Our son and oldest grandson have birthdays pretty close together at this time of year.  Here are the cards I made for them this year.

This first one is a CASE of one by my Hero Arts and Simon teammate, Sarah Moerman.  I took the easy way and used a patterned paper for my background instead of her beautifully pieced one.

supplies: black and white cardstock, patterned paper from Doodlebug Cute & Crafty 6" paper pad, Simon Says Stamp Birthday Circle and You dies, a stamped and white-embossed "to", Doodlebug heart sprinkle

supplies: white and black cardstock, striped pattern paper from Doodlebug Hello Again 6" paper pad, Simon/CZ Design Happy Birthday dies, Doodlebug heart sprinkles

I wanted to emboss the surround of the big heart on this one, but refrained, figuring that, for a guy, simple is best.  And, I was glad to be able to use a bit of my large collection of patterned papers on both these cards. 

How's it going for you?  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Simon Says.......Anything Goes

Welcome to our weekly challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!

It's an Anything Goes week, and the team is featuring CZ Design products.  You don't need to use this brand in order to enter, but if you do have any of them, we'd love to see what you do with them!

supplies: kraft, black, and Green Apple cardstock, a text patterned paper, CZ Design Silhouette Sentiments clear stamps, lime enamel dots

I have a bonus card this week, simply because this CZ Design Just Because die is a favorite of mine.

supplies: white, various shades of mint to navy cardstock, Just Because die, Hero Arts butterfly die, sequins to match

Now it's your turn!  We have a $25.00 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!

Simon Says Stamp All the Feels release!

 

Simon's newest release called All the Feels is live!  

I received a CZ Design die called Happy Everything, and for my first card, paired it with a 3D embossing folder for spring!

supplies: white, black and yellow cardstock, Simon Floral Field embossing folder and NEW Happy Everything dies, white pigment ink and a yellow ink for daisy centers, Spellbinder Daisy dies

I simply embossed on yellow cardstock, then rubbed white pigment ink across the surface, and a little yellow ink in the centers of the flowers, then added my sentiment and daisy.

My next card is 180 degrees from the above one, about as simple as I get!

supplies: white, black, Cotton Candy, Banana, Green Apple, Surf Blue, Lavender, and a soft apricot cardstock, vellum, NEW Happy Everything dies, tiny heart die

I did diagonal stripes in a pastel rainbow order, and added some tiny hearts here and there.

To see the whole release, please click HERE, and for ideas on how to use them, I hope you'll visit our Gallery HERE.  As always, we've planned blog hops for Friday and Saturday, March 26 and 27, and an Instagram hop on Friday, April 9.

Enjoy!  

Simon Says Stamp SEND HAPPINESS Blog Hop, Day 2!

Welcome to Day 2 of Simon Says Stamp's new SEND HAPPINESS blog hop!

You should have arrived here from Betty Wright's blog.  If you have just happened upon me today and want to start the hop from the beginning, go to the Simon Says Stamp blog to start.  We'll be giving away a $25.00 coupon at EVERY STOP on the hop, so don't forget to leave a comment!  The winners will be announced at the Simon Says Stamp Store Blog next Wednesday, July 1. Winners must email Simon to claim his/her prize.

And as you can see in the banner above, we have a free gift for shopping - any purchase made from now until June 29 at 11:59 pm will get your choice of one of four enamel pins, while supplies last.  Just make your choice of one of the codes in the graphic above!

I have a selection of cards to show off some of the fun new goodies from this release.  

First up is the fun CHILLIN' GNOMES stamps.  This set has 3 gnomes dressed for summer and lots of sentiments and smaller stamps to build some fun scenes.

supplies: white cardstock, Chillin' Gnomes stamps, Nuvo markers to color,

Simon Waves and Clouds for Days stencils, distress inks and blender brushes

Those "palm trees" are really mushrooms colored creatively!  

Here's another using the she-gnome and her posies from the same set.

supplies: white cardstock, Chillin' Gnomes stamps, colored with Nuvo markers, distress inks and blender brushes for background

I masked my card front and brushed on distress inks before gluing on the gnome and flowers.  She has her toenails painted, and is dressed in summery colors.

Next up is FAIRYTALE SPINNERS. I made a window card and suspended one of the fairies inside the window.  And I stamped the frame with a flower and butterfly also in the set.

supplies: white, Lavender, and Surf Blue cardstock, Fairytale Spinners, colored with Zig markers, MFT Mini Scalloped Stitched Rectangle dies, fishing line to suspend fairy in window  

Here's the reverse design of this fairy.  There are front and back stamps for 2 different fairies; you just choose the matching pair, color and cut them out, then glue them together with a string or clear filament between them, then attach the string on 2 opposite sides of your window opening.  

And lastly, here's my card using the new STARBURST stencil.  I immediately thought of fireworks.....

supplies: Soft Navy and gold foil cardstock, Starburst stencil, DecoFoil Transfer Gel and Summer Rainbow foil, Simon's Extra Large Congrats die

I chose a dark background to simulate a night-time sky, and then secured my stencil, applied transfer gel, let it dry, and then ran it through my laminator with rainbow foil.  I think the Congrats die is the perfect sentiment to go with this background!

This is your final stop of the blog hop.  Don't forget to visit the blogs on Day 1, too, for even more inspiration and chances to win a $25.00 gift card.

Click HERE for all the new goodies, and for more inspiration, don't forget to visit our Send Happiness Gallery.

Thanks so much for coming by today.  I hope you find something special just for you in this new release. Here's today's Hop Order.

HOP ORDER:

• Simon Says Stamp Blog
• Debby Hughes
• Laura Bassen
• Heather Hoffman
• Sidnie Des Jardins
• Vicky Papaioannou
• Emma Williams
• Laurie Willison
• Bobbi Lemanski
• Caly Person
• Betty Wright
• Lin Brandyberry

Sunny Days Ahead Blog Hop, Day 1

Simon Says Stamp has released a new bevy of products, called Sunny Days Ahead!  I'm thrilled to be participating in the first of 2 days of blog hops to show off all the new goodies!

You should have arrived here from Bobby Lemanski's blog.  If you have just happened upon me today and want to start the hop from the beginning, go to the Simon Says Stamp blog to start.  We'll be giving away a $25.00 coupon at every stop on the hop, so don't forget to leave a comment!  The winners will be announced at the Simon Says Stamp Store Blog next Wednesday, April 29.

Today I have 4 cards, 3 of them featuring the new Stylized Tulips die and 1 card using the CZ Design Extra Large Congrats die.

One of the prettiest spring plantings I've seen prominently featured pale pink and yellow tulips.  This first card is inspired by that garden.

supplies: white, Surf Blue, Cotton Candy, Green Leaf and a pale yellow cardstock, Stylized Tulips and Thanks dies, adhesive foam strips

I popped the pink tulip up and paper-pieced the sentiment in the same colors that I used for my flowers.

Next up, I used some subtle prints to piece my tulip in brighter colors.

supplies: white and black cardstock, various Doodlebug patterned papers, Stylized Tulips die, 4 Seasons die and sentiment

And lastly, I added some shading with oxide inks and colored pencils before piecing them back together for this one full of warm sunshine.

supplies: white, yellow, and Green Leaf cardstock, MFT gingham dp, Stylized Tulips and Painted Hello dies, mustard seed and mowed lawn oxide inks with pencil shading

And finally, I have a card using the new  CZ Design Extra Large Congrats die; I decided to use it for a wedding card, using the colors from the invitation we received.

supplies: eggshell cardstock, Simon CZ Design Extra Large Congrats and Elegant Roses dies, stamped sentiment from Floral Bliss,  (retired) Modern Rose Blooms cling stamp, broken tumbled glass oxide ink, a off-white enamel dot, foam squares to lift up rose

This card started with a white-embossed panel of Modern Rose Blooms.  Next I sponged on some tumbled glass oxide ink.  I die-cut the big word from it, and 4 others from eggshell and glued them together, then attached them back into place.  Then I added an Elegant Rose to mimic the background, and a stamped sentiment.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Day 2 of this Blog Hop.  Again, it will begin at the Simon Says Stamp blog.  Don't forget that each stop on both days will be offering a $25.00 coupon to the store for a random commenter, and if you buy anything on either of these 2 days, you can also get a free gift!  Use the code sssink to get a free Intense Black ink pad (see the banner at the top of this post to see it).

You'll be glad to know that the Simon Says Stamp store is shipping again!  For more information, you can watch this video.

Click HERE for all the new goodies, and for more inspiration, don't forget to visit our Sunny Days Ahead gallery.

Thanks so much for coming by today.  Here's today's Hop Order.

Simon Says Stamp Blog   

Jennifer McGuire

Kristina Werner

Cathy Zielske

Nina-Marie Trapani

Nichol Spohr

Lisa Addesa

Heather Ruwe

Suzy Plantamura

Kathy Racoosin

Barb Engler

Cheiron Brandon

Lea Lawson

Betty Wright

Bobbi Lemanski

Lin Brandyberry