Simon Says..........Father's Day/For a Guy

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog!

This week we're honoring special men in our lives - you can make a Father's Day card or just a card for a guy for any occasion.  The design team are using Tim Holtz products.

We lost my Dad last September, so this challenge was pretty meaningful for me.  Dad lived to be 95 years old, and he was a real character!  He always made me smile, and showed his love for all of us whenever he could.  He was a man of faith and was more than ready to "go Home", as he termed it, and I know he's in a better place.  So many things remind me of him, and I miss him every day.  I got my love for nature from him, so I thought it was appropriate to use one of Tim Holtz Wildflower dies on my card this week:

supplies: Hero Arts Earth designer paper as card base, a panel of Menagerie paper, a Wildflower die, cork adhesive-backed panel from a Textured Surfaces pack, "love you" sticker from Small Talk stickers pad, tiles from Alpha Tiles

Hero Arts Designer Designer Papers are unique in that each 8 1/2 X 11 piece is printed on one side, and white on the reverse, so they make great card bases! 

Using an adhesive-backed product really made it easy to work with this delicate die, and I love the feel and look of the cork!

Now it's your turn - I can't wait to see what you create!  We have another $50.00 gift voucher

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

The Most Beautiful Day

I finally found some time to play in Altenew's latest Inspiration Challenge for this month.  It hit all my buttons, because our anniversary is Monday, (our45th!), and I carried yellow roses on our wedding day, so I couldn't wait to make a bouquet of Altenew's lovely Vintage Roses!

supplies: ivory and black cardstock, Altenew Vintage Roses and sentiment from Beautiful Day, Cheery Lynn French Pastry doily die, sparkling clear sequins, Mini Misti, Scrapbook Adhesives foam squares

I had originally planned to just stamp the roses and keep this a 1-layer card, but the more I looked at the inspiration photo, I wanted to add some lace to the mix, so I ended up fussy cutting my roses and popping them over this pretty doily.  The sentiment is perfect for the occasion, and I sprinkled some sequins to mimic the pretty sparkle on Amy's dress.  

Here's the lovely inspiration:

Thanks for your visit!

An Anniversary Card

Our youngest son and his wife celebrate their 14th anniversary next week; here's the card I made for them.

supplies: cream and a Doodlebug textured pink cardstock, watercolor paper, Simon's Stacked Hearts, Painted Hugs, and Stitched Rectangles dies, worn lipstick and spiced marmalade distress inks

I smooshed some distress inks on my craft mat, spritzed with water, and then brushed the colors on a panel of watercolor paper.  When it was dry, I trimmed it out using the largest Stitched Rectangle die, then glued it to my cream card base.  The Stacked Hearts were cut out twice, and all the little hearts were pushed out of the design, then I glued the frames together.  I reserved 14 of the tiny hearts and dipped them into the worn lipstick puddle before re-applying 11 of them back into place; the other 3, representing our grandchildren, were placed outside of the frame.  "Hugs" was cut out 3 times and stacked before adding to the card.

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your weekend!

More from Taylored Expressions

Here's another new (to me) goodie from Taylored Expressions:

supplies: Hero Arts Blush layering paper as card base, watercolor paper, Taylored Expressions Fancy Banner 2 Stamp and die combo, markers to color, worn lipstick distress ink, Winnie & Walter Audrey Cutaway 

This stamp and die combo is another of the choices I made for a win at the Share Joy challenge recently - I thought this little banner would come in handy for lots of occasions.  Today I simply smooshed some worn lipstick distress ink on an acrylic block, spritzed it with water, and then "stamped" it onto a watercolor panel, letting the ink flow where it wanted to.  This is a technique that Shari Carroll came up with years ago, and gives you a little more control when you want a smooshed background.

There are 6 different sentiments in this cute little set, so I foresee it being used often!

Weekend's here - have a good one!

Hello Summer

It is suddenly summer here!  A bit early for these hot temps and humidity, but I know lots of people who have been waiting for this.  I recently won a challenge at Taylored Expressions Share Joy and wanted to play with some of my new goodies.

supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts grass layering paper, Taylored Expressions Bloom Where You're Planted dies, Wplus9 Lattice Frame die, Winnie & Walter Big Bold Seasons cutaway, various Doodlebug Designs papers, Scrapbook Adhesives foam squares to lift flowers

The TE die set has everything you need to make a fun pot of flowers - I only used 1 of the 4 different flowers in the set.  The Doodlebug 6" papers are scaled down in size and perfect for small designs like these.  I couldn't decide what color to cut my sentiment, so I chose a diagonal stripe that had them all!

Thanks for coming by today - enjoy!

Simon Says........Mask It!

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog!

This week our theme is "Mask It!" - I know you're going to flood our gallery with some beautiful creations!  The design team are using Altenew Products this week, one of my favorite companies, because of their gorgeous florals!  I love their multi-step stamp sets particularly, because I don't have to color in the images; the inks do it for me!  I made 2 cards for you this week, using post-it notes for my masking.

supplies: white and pink cardstock, Altenew Beautiful Day stamp set, a Hero Arts pink, Ranger Pink Gumball, Simon Hollyhock, Hero Arts Green Hills and Grass inks, Simon Birthday Flowers sentiment, Ranger Archival Jet Black ink, markers to color apple blossoms, post-it notes for masking

supplies: white cardstock, My Favorite Things Country Fair Plaid dp, Altenew Painted Flowers stamps, Altenew Shades of Purple, Hero Arts Iris, Green Hills and Grass, and Brilliance Pearlescent Purple inks, Simon Big Scripty Greetings sentiment, moonshine sequins, Scrapbook Adhesives foam squares to pop up stamped panel, post-it notes to mask flowers as I stamped upwards

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!

Choose Joy

As soon as I saw this stamp by Tammy Tutterow and Spellbinders, I knew it had to come home with me.  I saw it first when we were getting sneak peeks from January CHA, and it is just now beginning to show up in stores, so it was a long wait, but well worth it!  This first stamping will stay in my craft room, up on a shelf, so I see it every day - just love the sentiment!

supplies: purple card base, watercolor paper, Spellbinder's Choose Joy cling stamp, Ranger Archival Jet Black ink, Spectrum Aqua markers and water to color, Winnie & Walter Audrey Cutaways scalloped die, sequins from Pretty Pink Posh Sweet Pea and Enchanted Garden mixes, mini Misti 

For its first stamping I used my Mini Misti to get a good dark impression on watercolor paper, which can be a problem without it.  I must admit that I didn't think I needed this amazing tool, but I was wrong!  I'm thrilled now to have it, and use it every time I stamp!  Then I just chose some Aqua Markers in pinks, purples, green, and yellow and colored in the image, adding water to spread the colors as I went.  When everything had dried, I die-cut a scalloped pinpoint panel, and then embellished with sequins for a bit of sparkle.  A very simple design, and lots of fun to color!

This particular stamp is sold out right now at Simon, but Tammy has several others that are just as pretty, if you're interested.

Thanks for stopping by!  My blog will get quiet here now for a few days, as my Mom and sister come for a visit over the 3-day weekend.  I'll see you next week - enjoy the holiday!

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

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog!

It's your favorite Anything Goes this week!  The design team are all playing with Technique Tuesday products and if you have any we'd love to see what you make with them, too!

I chose one of Technique Tuesday's Greenhouse Society stamp sets.  This series features lovely botanicals, and I ran with that idea, making a botanical notecard.

supplies: white and periwinkle cardstock, Technique Tuesday Columbine stamp set, VersaFine Onyx Black ink to stamp and mowed lawn and shaded lilac distress markers to color, Winnie & Walter Audrey Cutaways 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!

MFT Sketch Challenge

Sneaking in at the last hour with an entry for the current My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge:

supplies: white and black cardstock, MFT Flashy Florals stamps and dies, MFT fabulous die, Simon's Stitched Rectangles die, Hero Arts Wallpaper Background woodblock from 1999, various sequins, adhesive foam squares

I was so enthralled with Karolyn's velveteen stamping here, that I went the same route, using a very old Hero Arts ditzy floral stamp for my pattern.  This is a technique invented by Shari Carroll when she was a Hero Arts artist; basically you stamp a pattern in white pigment ink on white cardstock, and when it's dry, overstamp your designs.....the white pattern will float upwards and be subtly visible through the overstamped colors. 

Here's the sketch:

Forget Me Not

Still playing with some new toys, I made a nostalgic lavender and lace card for today.

supplies: purple and white cardstock, Tim Holtz Doily embossing folder and Wildflowers dies, wilted violet, dusty concord, seedless preserves, and peeled paint distress inks, finger daubers, violet silk ribbon, Paper Inspirations woodblock sentiment

I've always been a sucker for doilies, and so when I saw this embossing folder, it jumped into my cart!  This wildflower die is just 1 of 7 different designs in this set - I know I'll get lots of use from it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Put on your Sunglasses!

I just received the new My Favorite Things Flashy Florals stamps and dies, and I decided to give them a spin and also enter the MFT Color Challenge

.

supplies: white, orange, and black cardstock, MFT Flashy Flowers stamps and dies, MFT Hello die, several inks from the Flashy Florals card kit, Mini Misti, a Hero Arts striped stamp, sequins to match.  

Here are the colors - I chose to accent the orange!

I really love the large size of these stamps and dies!  Paired with my new Mini Misti, this card was a joy to make!   Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks

I got some new goodies to play with and I'm combining a couple of them to enter the current Share Joy challenge.

supplies: white cardstock, Taylored Expressions Rosy Posey embossing folder, My Favorite Things Flashy Florals stamps and dies, MFT thanks die, MFT Dots & Stripes Sorbet striped dp, Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins

I think Taylored Expressions makes some of the nicest embossing folders, and this Rosy Posey one has been on my list for awhile, but always sold out.  So last week when I saw it was back in stock, I scooped it up!

Here's our sketch for this week:

After a dreary day yesterday of showers, it's a beautiful spring Sunday here!  I hope you're getting some of the same!

Look for the Miracles

I have 2 cards made from Simon's June Card Kit.

supplies: white cardstock, a panel of Bo Bunny's Believe dp, in kit, vellum, Simon's Look for the Miracles sentiment and hearts, in kit, white embossing powder and VersaMark ink, white seam binding

This is a simple design, highlighting this lovely sentiment.  There are several dps I could have used behind this, but I loved this bright, happy heart one!

For the 2nd card, I stamped many of the designs from the Look for the Miracles stamp set on a panel of white cardstock, using my new mini Misti!  (I have been having such trouble getting clean crisp impressions lately that I finally caved and got one - WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!).  Then I cut the stamped panel in half, and then each half into 2 pieces, and remounted everything onto a Sunshine card base, adding some of the enamel dots in the kit in the flower centers.  I used Orange Peel and Island Blue strips to highlight the dream diecut in black.

Here's the sunny kit:

So much to love - don't wait too long!

Hydrangea Dream

I have been very lax in my card making the last month or so.  We have been doing over our kitchen, replacing the original cabinets and everything else there.  We love the results, but it took us a good 2 months, and then another 2 weeks to spring clean the rest of the house when it was finally finished!  So now I'm all ready to get back into making cards.  I chose my favorite Hero Arts flower stamp and watercolored a panel after heat embossing it in white:

supplies: ivory, black, and periwinkle cardstock, watercolor paper, Hero Arts Hydrangea, blueprint sketch, mowed lawn, and tumbled glass distress inks, water, die-cut sentiment from Simon's June Card Kit, May Arts periwinkle seam binding ribbon, Winnie & Walter Audrey Cutaways scalloped die

As always after a break, I find it tough to get started again, so I chose this wonderful stamp and my favorite colors to ease back in.  After embossing the image, I couldn't stamp a sentiment over it, but timing is everything - my mailman delivered the new Simon June Card Kit today, and I thought the sentiment die inside was the perfect solution!  I think that ribbon is dreamy, so it works for me!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by for a visit today!