STAMPtember, Wavy Rainbow Cover

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Today I'm sharing a couple of cards created using my Wavy Rainbow coverplate from the STAMPtember release. 

For my first card, I die cut the cover using white cardstock, and then colored the rainbow pieces with Copics. I used shading to create more movement/dimension in the waves. 

For the white space, I added just a touch of gray shading (C0 and C1) to make the colors pop more.

The sentiment is from my Positive Thoughts set which was actually designed with this coverplate in mind. It was stamped with Versa Clair black ink, die cut, and popped up with foam adhesive.

For my next card, I again die cut the coverplate using white cardstock.

This time, the pieces were inked with a blending brush. I used Cantaloupe, Honey, Orchid, Peony, and Lilac. 

Instead of using the frame, I simply popped each of the rainbow piece up with foam adhesive.

The Good Vibes sentiment was die cut from white cardstock, inked with Lilac, and adhered to a white shadow piece. Once complete this was adhered with another layer of foam tape.

This is a really fun one to work with, hope you enjoyed the cards!

STAMPtember Fractile Snowflake

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Today I'm sharing a couple of cards created using my Fractile Snowflake products. The stencil set includes six stencils and a mask. Five stencils work together to create the full snowflake image, and there is also a solid snowflake and mask.

I started by die cutting the snowflake and placing it on a sticky mat. The stencils were then centered over top of the die cut snowflake. I inked four layers of the snowflake using Morning, Sky, Dusk, and Shark inks. For one snowflake, I used Stardust Stickles for the final layer, and for the other, I used Silver Lunar Paste for the final layer.

For my background panels, I placed the mask around the edges of the panel, and added soft inking, using Shark for one, and Sky for the other.

The die cut snowflakes were adhered with foam tape, and then I added silver embossed sentiments from my previously released Holiday Messages set which were die cut and adhered with foam tape as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

STAMPtemer Blog Party Time!

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

It's the second day of STAMPtember, and Simon Says Stamp is hosting a blog party!

This is different from a blog hop where there are stops linked to one another.  Instead, everyone is linked to the Simon Says Stamp blog, and there are links to all the participants from there.  There are A LOT of participants, so be prepared for a ton of inspiration!

There are all sorts of prizes sprinkled throughout the party stops, my prize is the above stamp/die set that you can get free with any $30 order using code MBLM.

OK, on to the inspiration. Since this is a party, I thought I would feature my new party themed products: Celebrate, Party Streamers, and Background Streamers. First up Background Streamers, which is a set of two stencils that layer rogether to create a dimensional background.

For this first card, I used Bubblegum and Sweets. Bubblegum was used for the front/lighter portions of the design, and Sweets for the inside/darker portions. I inked with a large blending brush, and then went in with a smaller one, using the same ink color, to darken up the edges to create moe dimension.

For the sentiment, I die cut the shadow piece from my Celebrate dies in white. I then swiped the Sweets inkpad over white cardstock, and die cut the sentiment itself from that. A Reverse Sentiment Strip finished things off.

For this next card, the background was created using Bubblegum and Sweets again along with Heather and Violet. 

Starting with the lighter/front stencil, I randomly inked Bubblegum and Heather, then placed the second stencil over top, and inked the darker shades based on where the lighter shades had been inked.

I also added some very soft pink inking around the edges of my panel to soften it a bit.

After inking some white cardstock with the same colors, I die cut the Cheering You On sentiment, adhered it to a white cardstock shadow piece, and added a Reverse Sentiment Strip.

Next up the Party Streamers dies. These mimic the stenciled background, but are a bit thinner. In many ways they are bigger, curvier versions of my Ribbon Quilt dies.

I chose two shades of teal, and two shades of yellow, and created several streamers in each color family. The die set includes the large streamer base, and then two sets of pieces that create the lighter/front version, one set runs in one direction, and the other the opposite.

For my cards I mixed up the orientation as well as the sentiment, using my Celebrate sentiment for the vertical card, and Yay You for the horizontal card.

These are pretty easy to put together, and easily mass producible. 

That's all for me today, be sure to head over to the Simon Blog to check out all the creators participating in the party!

STAMPtember is here!

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Happy first day of STAMPtember! The STAMPtember release is live and available in the Simon Says Stamp store, and it's packed with all sorts of goodness. I'm excited to have many of my designs in the release and will be sharing samples with you throughout the month.

Today I'm showing off one of my new coverplates, Peace Joy Love. Christmas is my very favorite holiday to design for, and this cover plate scratches so many of my design itches. It's bold, graphic, a little geometric, and so easy to use.

I started by diecutting the plate from black, Gold Matte, light green, dark green, red, and pink cardstock, and then randomly inlaying pieces of the Gold Matte and colord cardstocks to create my design. 

I had plenty of leftover pieces, so I took the dark green background piece, and inlaid light green, red, and pink pieces into that. This time instead of working randomly, I alternated the pieces in a particular order.

Since there were STILL pieces left, I thought I would mix thing up. This time instead of inlaying pieces, I simply adhered them onto wide strips of Starlight cardstock. 

I also changed up the order, so the words graduated in size from top to bottom, and adhered the strips to a light green mat.

Before I sign off, I wanted to share with you the rest of my designs in the STAMPtember release:

Quilted Modern Star

Background Streamers

Party Streamers

Christmas Tree Halves

Wavy Rainbow

Celebrate

Dimensional Tree

Candle Cover

Fractile Snowflake

That's all for me today. Be sure to head over to Simon to check out the full release, and I'll see you back here tomorrow for a fun blog party!

SSS Glow On

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

I've got a bright and sunny card to share today.

When I saw the Glow On dies that were released a couple of months ago, I immediately thought of my Retro Wreath stencils.

There are four stencils in this set, and they were inked up with Butter, Melon, Cantaloupe, and Sunbeam.

The sentiment was cut from a gold cardstock and mounted on a white shadow piece, and I used a soft yellow for the card base to add another sunny color to the mix.

Super easy, and love being able to mix my old and new products!

SSS Sunflower Blooms

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

I've got a really simple card to share today featuring the Sunflower Blooms dies from Simon Says Stamp.

I generally think of sunflowers as very bright and bold, but wanted to try for a softer more muted color scheme today.

I really love the depth you get from these dies. 

Everything was adhered together with just liquid adhesive, but you can see how dimensional it is.

A sentiment from my previously released Plant Sentiments set finished the look.

SSS Oak Leaf, Take 3

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

I've got one more Oak Leaf card to share today. This one is a super quick one layer wonder.

I started by very lightly inking the solid Oak Leaf stencil on a white panel using Celery and Limelicious. The colors were alternated as I worked my way around the card, and I did allow the leaves to overlap.

Next, I chose two of the leaf detail stencils. One was placed on the Celery inked leaves and also inked with Celery, with a firmer hand. The other was placed over the Limelicious leaves and inked with Limelicious  using a heavier hand.

The result is a really subtle patterned paper. 

To finish things off, I stamped one of the sentiments from my new Positive Thoughts set with Versa Clair black ink.

This would be a great design for mass producing, and you could easily mix up/change the color scheme.

SSS Oak Leaf, Take 2

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

I've got another Oak Leaf card to share with you today. 

For this card, I inked up two of the leaves using Pawsitively Saturated Ink Trio 16, which consist of Lilac, Orchid, and Amethyst ink. These were then die cut with eht coordinating die.

I cut a panel of white cardstock 3" x 5 1/2" and adhered this to the center of a black card base.

The leaves were then arranged diagonally across the card, and popped up with foam tape. 

After trimming off the excess portions of the leaves, I die cut the sentiment, which is part of the coordinating die set, from black cardstock. The shadow piece was cut from white cardstock. These were adhered together and popped up over the leaves. I also added a secondary Sentiment Strip.

I love how the leaves pop against the black and white background!

SSS Every Happiness Releas Blog Hop

*This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Happy Friday! I'm hopping along with Simon Says Stamp today celebrating the new Every Happiness release. You should be arriving here from Lisa Addesa's blog. As usual, Simon is giving away a $25 store credit at each stop along the hop. All you need to do to be entered to win is  leave a comment. In addition, all purchases from the Every Happiness collection this weekend will receive the above pictured stamp set free! 

Today I'm showing off my new Desert Horizon cover plate. I'm sharing four ways to use, or 'color' this landscape.

First up, coloring with cardstock.

This is the traditional way, if you will. I simply die cut the cover plate using various colors of cardstock to create my landscape. The pieces layer together very easily, and no super tiny pieces.

I chose a sentiment from my new Positive Thoughts set which was stamped on cardstock using Versa Clair black ink, die cut using the coordinating dies, and popped up with foam tape.

Next up, inking.

This time, I cut the cover just once, from white cardstock, and then used my Pawsitively Saturated inks and Blending Brushes to color each of the pieces. I used Morning, Dusk, Latte, Cappuccino, and Butter.

The sentiment is also from the Positive Thoughts set.

Next, we have watercoloring.

This time I started by dry embossing the coverplate onto a panel of watercolor cardstock. I used those lines as a guide for some very loose watercoloring. You really don't need to be precise at all for this.

Once I was happy with the panel and it had dried, I replaced the plate and die cut. To emphasie the pieces, I added inking to the edges using Distress Inks and a Tim Holtz Mini Ink Blender.

The pieces were then reassembled. I trimmed the panel down slightly and popped it up with foam tape. A reverse sentiment strip finished things off.

Finally, coloring with Copics.

Once again, I die cut a panel of white cardstock, but this time I added color using Copics. I love how vibrant this one is.

The sentiment is from my Chill Vibes set It was gold embossed on black cardstock and popped up.

Would love to know which method was your favorite! Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered to win the prize here. Your next stop is Jean Doeringsfeld, and I have the full hop list below if you need it. Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Simon Says Stamp Blog
Heather Hoffman
Barbara Tarayao
Laura Bassen
Amy Rysavy
Tina Smith
Nicky Meek
Heather Ruwe
Lisa Addesa
Miriam Prantner
Jean Doeringsfeld
Barb Engler
Laura Williams
Christine Okken

SSS Every Happiness Release

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Hi friends! The Every Happiness release from Simon Says Stamp is now available, and I've got a few new products in this release, including my latest big leaf design, Oak Leaf.

The stencil set includes four stencils, and there's a coordinating die which also includes the blessed sentiment dies that you see here.

For this card, started by stenciling the leaf using the new Green Forests set of mini inks. There are two color families included in the set, and I used the Jade, Eucalyptus, and Juniper trio.

To add some elegance and interest to the leaf, I used gold paint pen to trace along segments of the lines in the leaf.

Next, I fussy cut the leaf. Of course there is a coordinating die, but I wanted to give it a faux gilded look, so I fussy cut the leaf, and used the coordinating die to cut a solid leaf from Gold Matte cardstock. The leaf was adhered over top. This gives it such a pretty look, seeing that Gold Matte peeking out from behind.

For the background, I cut a panel of Glossy Black cardstock. I used some Tim Holtz Gold Alcohol Ink Mixative which was mixed with a little bit of blending solution, and then splattered onto the panel. 

The leaf was popped up with foam tape. The sentiment was die cut from Gold Matte, and the shadow piece from the Glossy Black, and the completed sentiment was then popped up over the leaf.

I'm so pleased with how this turned out. I kind of want to gild all of my leaves now!

I'll see you back here tomorrow for a fun blog hop. Until then, be sure to stop by Simon to see the full release, including my other new products: Positive Thoughts and Desert Horizon.

SSS Shine On, Blooming Flower Take 2

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

I've got another Blooming Flower card to share with you this week.

This time, I used the stencils to created a patterned paper. I started with a panel of Moonflower cardstock, inking the flowers up using Petunia, Pansy, and Earl ink. Petunia was used for two of the layers, varying the 'weight' of the inking. For that little petal on the layer with the leaves, I used whatever was left on my blending brush from the Pansy inking.

The sentiment die comes in the coordinating die set, and was cut from a dark purple cardstock and adhered to a shadow piece cut from that same Moonflower cardstock. I added a secondary Sentiment Strip sentiment as well as a thin strip of that dark purple cardstock to ground the sentiment elements.

I really love the subtlety of the tone on tone stenciling on the light colored cardstock don't you?