SSS Smitten & Sweetheart Blog Hop, Day 1

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Welcome to Day 1 of the Smitten & Sweetheart Blog Hop!  You should be arriving here from Mindy Eggen's blog, but I will have the full hop list below if you need it.  Today's hop celebrates not only yesterday's Sweetheart release, but the Smitten release which occurred last month.

All good blog hops have prizes, and as usual, one lucky commenter at each spot on this hop will receive a $25 credit in the Simon store.  In addition, everyone can get the Hearts and Stars stencil pictured above free with any order this weekend using code HTZ24.

Today I'm featuring more cards created using my Printmaking Hearts products.  This first set of cards features the stamps.

These hearts are very easy to line up.  There are three layers, and for these cards I did all the stamping at once.  I placed two of the layers in my regular sized MISTI.  f you're looking at the MISTI straight on, one was positioned to stamp my card panel when it was placed in the bottom left corner of the MISTI.  The second was positioned to stamp my card panel when it was rotated 90 degrees and placed in the top left corner of the MISTI.  For the third layer, I used my Tim Holtz platform.  This way I could place all the layers once and get all the panels stamped at the same time.

Note, I cut all my panels to A2 size (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") centering the stamps on the panel.  This gave me enough margin to stamp the sentiment below the hearts if I wanted.

I mixed things up in terms of stamping, backgrounds, and sentiment placement o give you an idea of different ways you can use the stamp set.

This first card is very straightforward.  I used Cheeky, Lilac, and Amethyst.  The panel was trimmed down to leave space at the bottom for the sentiment, also from the set, which was stamped with Versa Claire black ink.  A dark purple mat compelted the look.

Next, I stamped the hearts using one of the full color families from Simon: Bubblegum, Sweets, and Taffy.  If you're not in the mood to color mix yourself, you can never go wrong using one of these ready-made color trios.  

These were stamped on a subtle grid pattered paper which softens it up a bit.  I added a black die cut frame which was popped up with foam tape as well as another of the sentiments from the set embossed in white and popped up as well.

I chose a slightly more 'patterned' paper for this next card and stamped the hearts using Bubblegum, Morning, and Twilight.  A light blue patterned paper mat and a sentiment from the Reverse All the Love Sentiment Strips were added as well.

This last one is my favorite.  These hearts were created using Distress Embossing Glaze on kraft cardstock.  I used Lumberjack Red, Lost Shadow, and Hickory Smoke. To give it a little more moodiness, I inked the edges with a combination of Frayed Burlap and Ground Espresso.

The sentiment is again from the set and embossed in white.  The original embossing was a little too white, so I toned it down a bit by coloring the embossing with my E25 Copic.  Just cuts the contrast a bit.

For these next two cards, I thought it would be fun to create cards using just the coordinating die, which can really function as a standalone die.

It's a very similar formula for both, but done two different ways.  

First, I created a couple of painted panels using Distress Paint.  I used Lumberjack Red, Weathered Wood, and Black Soot.  For the card on the left, I kind of randomly painted a piece of watercolor paper, for the card on the right, I started by painting the panel with Lumberjack Red, and then added some Black Soot to the bottom, tapering off as I moved up the panel to create an ombre effect.

When the randomly painted panel (on the left) was dry, I die cut my hearts.  

These were popped up on a white panel, and I added a sentiment from the All the Love Reverse Sentiment Strips which was popped up as well.

For the second card, I used the painted panel as a background.

This was adhered to a piece of Champagne Matte cardstock.  I then die cut the hearts from a piece of white cardstock, and popped the negative piece up over my painted background.  I again finished the card off with one of the sentiments from the Reverse All the Love Sentiment Strips.

Super easy, and I love the clean and simple look of these.

OK, your next stop on the hop is my very good friend Cheiron Brandon, and the full hop list is below.

Don't forget to leave a comment to be in the drawing for the $25 store credit.  Good luck, and enjoy the hop!

Simon Says Stamp Blog
Nichol Spohr
Laura Bassen
Cathy Zielske
Barbara Tarayao
Keisha Charles
Mindy Eggen
Miriam Prantner
Cheiron Brandon
Tina Smith
Heather Ruwe
Lea Lawson
Seeka
Jean Doeringsfeld
Barb Engler

SSS Sweetheart Release, Printmaking Hearts and Hugs & Kisses

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Hi friends!  It's a release day at Simon Says Stamp!  As you might imagine, the Sweetheart release is full of all sorts of Valentine's themed products including several designed my yours truly.

It always takes me a while to figure out what to share first.  A lot of times I'll highlight products one at a time, but this card is my favorite created for the release and includes all my new products, so I figured I would share it right off the bat.

It's been a while since I released a Printmaking set, but I thought that Hearts would be a great addition.

Printmaking Hearts is similar to the Printmaking Pines set where there isn't an outline layer, just three layers that create the completed hearts.  I used Watermelon, Sunbeam, and Sherbet for my three layers.  The hearts were then die cut with the coordinating die.

I thought the previously released Lava Lamp stencils would create the perfect background.  There are six stencils in the set, but I chose to use just three of them, using the same colors I used for the stamping.

The stenciled panel was trimmed down and then adhered to my card base, and I then placed my die cut hearts in groups of three on the background.

Hugs & Kisses is my newest sentiment die set.  It comes with the sentiment itself as well as a shadow piece, but for this card I'm using just the sentiment piece.  It was cut from yellow and pink cardstock, adhered slightly offset, and then popped up over the background and hearts.

I did adhere one of the front hearts with foam tape as well for some additional dimension.

I have lots more to share in the coming days, including tomorrow when there will be a fun blog hop, so stay tuned.  For now though, you'll want to head over to Simon to check out the full release.  See you tomorrow!