SSS, Grad Basics

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

The new Grad Basics sentiment set came out just in time for me!  I normally have a few graduation cards to make each year, but this year my oldest graduates which means so do most of her friends, which means I need a lot more cards!

When I need cards in a hurry, stencils are my best friend.  I pulled out a few favorites to create fun, colorful backgrounds, and finished things off with a sentiment from the Grad Basics set.

For these first two cards, I tilted the Positivity stencil when putting it over my cardstock panel, and then inked with two colors: Pucker and Citrine for the card on the left, and Cabbage and Sky for the card on the right.  All my sentiments were stamped with Versafine Clair black.

For below left, I used the Dimensional Cube stencils with Bubblegum, Carnation, Violet, Orchid, and Sky.  The card on the right uses the Dimensional Rectangles stencils with Sky, Dusk, and Flannel (I used Sky twice inking one layer with a lighter hand than the other).

Next up. I used the Stepped Back Blocks stencil on the left, with Ocean, Mist and Raindrop, and 3D Box stencils with Sky, Dusk, Night, and Twilight, using several of those colors multiple times.

Finally, I pulled out the Giant Firework stencil, which is a good one to have in your stash just because it works for all celebrations.  For the card on the right, I inked Blush and Butter.

For the card on the left,  couldn't resist pulling out Stickles Solar Flare Glitter Gel.  In addition to the 'regular' sparkle, there are fun star shaped pieces in this gel which make is especially festive.  

That's all for me today.  We're off to graduation tomorow night!

SSS Dream Big Blog Hop

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Staamp.

Happy Saturday!  I'm excited to be participating in a blog hop today celebrating the Dream Big release from Simon Says Stamp.  You should have arrived here from Emily Midgett's blog.  

Before I dive in to my cards, let's talk prizes.  First off, Simon will be selecting a commenter from each stop along the way to receive a $25 credit to the Simon store.  Also, if you place an order this weekend, you can use the code BIGHUGS to get this free Scripty Big Hugs die.  

Alright, on to my cards.  Today I'm working with my new stencil set for Simon, Dimensional Cubes.

I thought it would be fun to show off some different ways to use this set.  This first card shows off a very basic application using just one of the stencils, the one with the cube quadrants.

All I did here was ink the stencil, rotate once, ink again, etc.  I used Heather, Violet, Iris, and Galaxy for a really cool monochromatic color scheme.

The sentiment is from the previously released Yay You set.  It was stamped with Versafine, die cut, and popped up with foam tape.  Super easy!

Next up, I used the same process for my four quadrants, although this time I mixed some greens and grays using Aspen, Sage, Flannel, and Earl.

This time, I also used the stencil from the set with the inner squares, applying paste to my panel with that stencil.

The card was finished off with the Basic Box Card Happy Birthday dies.  I used a very dark gray for the shadow piece and cut three layers of light gray for the sentiment itself.  Again, it was popped up with foam tape.

I also wanted to incorporate the third stencil, which stencils the entire finished pattern.

I started by stenciling the quadrants and center square as I had done previously, using Celery, Sprout, Limelicious, Pearfection, and Field.  

Next, I placed the full pattern stencil over top of my panel, slightly offset, and inked again with some Celery.  I then shifted the stencil in the other direction, inking again with Celery.

This gave my panel some extra interest/movement/depth.

For my sentiment, I pulled out the Sending Good Vibes dies.  The shadow piece was cut from white cardstock and inked around the edges with Celery, and I used a dark green cardstock for the sentiment itself.  The entire piece was then popped up over my background panel.

Finally, for my last card, I inked up the four quadrants very softly using Lemonade, Melon, Cheeky, and Peachy.

Then I trimmed my stenciled piece down along the diagonals, so that the pattern looks more like squares than diamonds.  

I adhered the piece to a white mat, popped it up over my card base, and then added a sentiment from the Reverse Be You sentiment strips.

These cards came together so quickly, and I hope I gave you some ideas for how to use the new stencils.

Your next stop on the hop is Mindy Eggen, and I'll provide the full hop list below in case you need it.

Thanks for stopping by, good luck, and happy hopping!

Simon Says Stamp Blog 

Laura Bassen

Amanda Korotkova

Jennifer McGuire

Barbara Tarayao

Emily Midgett

Miriam Prantner

Mindy Eggen

Heather Hoffman

Barb Engler

Jennifer Kotas

Tina Smith

Kim Hamilton