Simon Says: For a Special Lady!

Hello crafty friends! It's Wednesday and that means it's time for a new Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!

This week Simon Says: For a Special Lady! The design team is featuring Altenew products!  It isn't a requirement to use them but if you have them we would love to see them!

Come join in on the fun, you have the chance of winning a $50 gift card to the fantastic Simon Says Stamp store!

I wanted to use a color palette that I don't use often. Purple is a color that I have always struggled with but it's a color that my Mom has re-discovered, lol. So I decided to escape my comfort zone and went with a mix of purple and turquoise for this card.

I stamped and colored my flower and butterfly first with the BG family of Copics (colors listed below) and fussy cut both images as I do not have the accompanying dies.  I put those aside and started ink blending my panel using the Altenew Halftone Stencil and some Lavender ink.

I decided to stamp the leaves from the Altenew Wallpaper Art set with a darker purple-ish ink and I really liked the way it turned out! I die cut the panel with the frame from the Mama Elephant Cloud Nine dies and glued it to my card base.

I used foam tape for the flower and a mix of a small foam tape piece on the Butterfly wings and glue on the base for added dimension.

I used a sentiment also from the Avery Elle Butterfly set and stamped it on a Simon Says Stamp Brand Exclusive tag die cut from Lavender cardstock I added it with a mix of foam tape and glue to the card panel and added some twine from my stash.

To finish off the card I added some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Sequins and some white gel pen detail to the flower! 

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Thanks so much for taking the time! All products used are listed and linked below, affiliate links used at no extra cost to you!

Kim

Simon Says: Thanks/Thanksgiving

It's Wednesday crafty friends and that means it's time for a new Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!

This week Simon Says: Thanks/Thanksgiving! The design team is featuring fantastic Altenew products, it isn't a requirement to use them but if you have them we would love to see them!

Come join in on the fun, you have the chance of winning a $50 gift card to the fantastic Simon Says Stamp store!

Canadian Thanksgiving is in October so for my card this week I opted to underline the importance of Remembrance Day which, we celebrate on November 11 annually.  For those of you that may be unaware, most Commonwealth countries (and certain others) celebrate this very important day and the Poppy is the symbol for honouring those who have died in conflict. This year marks the 100th anniversary as WWI ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.

There is a famous poem and incidentally my favourite poem by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae who was a Canadian physician (he served in WWI) called In Flanders Fields which is where he indicates the symbolism of the Poppy.

So I thought the Altenew Painted Poppy set would be perfect for my project today.  I stamped out my poppies with Distress Antique Linen Ink so that I could practice my no-line watercoloring with the new Altenew water-colours (LOVE these paints). I haven't practiced this in a while but I am happy with the way the poppies turned out. 

Once they were dry, I decided to use watered down Distress Paint in Picket Fence, Black Soot and Antique Bronze and flicked some paint splotches on my card panel (which is Tim Holtz watercolor paper) 

Once that was all dry, I chose this perfect sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Thanks and Leaves set (from the November Card Kit which there are a few still available I linked the gorgeous kit below and I also linked the stamp set as a stand alone) I used my magic powder bag and embossed the Thank You with bronze embossing powder and embossed the secondary sentiment with white on black cardstock.

To finish my card I added some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Sequins and some White Blizzard Nuvo Glitter drops to the centres.

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

Products used are listed and linked below, affiliate links used at no extra cost to you!

Thanks for taking the time!

Kim :)

Simon Says: Use a Die or Punch

Happy Wednesday crafty friends! Today is my first official day of a month-long summer break! So excited and it's time for a new Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!

Before we get to this weeks fun challenge have you seen the Summer Kids Challenge going on now! The theme is Anything Goes with Sparkle! Click the link above or the logo below for more details!

Encourage your younger loved ones to enter for a chance to win one of three grab bags! This challenge is such fun!

Come join in on the fun, you have the chance of winning a $50 gift card to the fantastic Simon Says Stamp store!

Now for this weeks challenge Simon Says: Use a Die or Punch! The design team is featuring Birch Press designs you don't have to use them but if you have them we would love to see them :)

For my project today I used the gorgeous Mandala Layer Stencil by Birch Press with some Altenew Sweet Dreams ink cubes and my round blending tools.  I love the colors in this ink set and I just love the effect it gave the stencil. Once that was complete, I die cut my panel using the largest Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangle. 

This was such a fast card to put together I decided to use this beautiful Birch Press Big Hugs Sugar Script die as my sentiment. For the background of the die I used Lawn Fawn Black Licorice card stock and Tonic Tropical Tide glitter paper for the top Hugs die.

Once that was added to the panel I opted for the "Friend" sentiment from a Simon Says Stamp Brand Exclusive Spring Flower Burst (I partially stamped that sentiment with Versamark ink). I then used my Nuvo White embossing powder and poped it up with foam tape as I did with the Hugs die. And that was it, super quick and I love the effect of this card!

All of the products are listed and linked bellow!

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

Thanks for taking the time!

Kim

Altenew Layering Flower

Happy Tuesday crafty friends! I have been struggling with my crafty mojo! Work and life have been too crazy lately. I thought one of the beautiful Altenew layering flowers might help to jump start my card mojo.

I never use purple, I don't know why but I decided to try and go out of my comfort zone for this one. I used the Altenew Purple Crisp inks with the beautiful Hope stamp set. I find this one is a lot easier to line-up then some of the other layering type sets and I love the big and bold flower.

Once I die cut my flower with the coordinating dies I looked through my stash and decided to use this Avery Elle Horizontal Stripes Frame die with Lawn Fawn Black Licorice card stock to frame the flower. I then grabbed some Simon Says Stamp Lavender card stock and embossed it with one of my 3D We R Memory Keepers embossing folders. I glued the black die cut panel on top of the lavender one.

Once that was done I decided to die cut the beautiful Simon Says Stamp Leaves Cluster die out of vellum to add behind my flower and leaves. I then used the Altenew Thanks script die with some silver mat mirror card stock by Tonic.

To finish off the project I added a scattering of Pretty Pink Posh Wisteria Blossom sequins.

Thanks for taking the time all of the products used are linked and lister below!

Kim 

Hello Beautiful!

Happy Fri-yay! Hope you have all had a great week! Are you ready for International Scrapbook Day :) I will be doing some make and takes during the National Scrapbook Weekend event here in Montréal!

Like many of you crafters, I have a lot of different coloring mediums so when the Faber Castell Polychromos became hugely popular I said to myself you don't need them you have your Prismacolor pencils... And I held strong for about two months, then I caved. Lol. I have to say, I am super happy that I did. The quality of those pencils is fantastic.

For my project today I decided to use the newer Even More Spring Flowers from Simon Says Stamp. I stamped my flowers on kraft card stock with Distress Antique Linen Ink to attempt some no-line coloring.  I so enjoyed this process, it was so relaxing. I started with a white highlight on all the blooms and leaves and then went in with three different shades of each color family.

I used the coordinating dies for the flowers. I then pulled out this Altenew Cover Plate die that I am simply in-love with.  It is called Watercolor Stripes and die cut that from black Lawn Fawn card stock. I placed the cover plate die cut on my card base and placed my flowers with foam tape.

I then die cut the Simon Says Stamp Hello Beautiful dies with Tonic gold card stock and placed both sentiments on my project. To finish off I added some Pretty Pink Posh gold sequins and black Tonic Nuvo Drops on the smaller flowers.

All products are listed below.

Thanks for taking the time!

Kim

Altenew Washi

Happy Monday! I hope you had an Easter weekend filled with family and friends! I love the Easter long-weekend four days to re-charge and re-connect. Also, lots of time set aside in my craft room! 

I picked-up the new Altenew washi tapes last week and let me tell you they have my little heart! We celebrated one of my cousin's birthdays over the weekend and I had to use one of the washi's on it.

The starting point was obviously the washi, and I love that this role has color options. I didn't get further than the blue and pink option, not sure if there are more but such a great idea. I knew I wanted  the tape on the bottom, so I took my card base and placed the washi. 

I then stamped my Altenew Painted flowers (probably my favourite set by them) in some Catherine Pooler inks, It's a Boy and Something Borrowed to match the blue on the tape. I die cut the flowers and took another piece of Neena Solar White 80lbs, sized the frame and used a Lawn Fawn Stitched Border die.

I am thrilled that more companies are releasing great French sentiment die cuts (my entire family is French-speaking) I die cut the Bonne Fete from a StickIt, Fun foam and gold card stock sandwich. I placed my flowers around the sentiment to make sure I liked the placement and then glued everything down. I finished off with some new Studio Katia iridescent sequins and some Nuvo Glitter pen on the flowers.

Thanks so much for taking the time!

Kim

No-line coloring with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and Altenew

Happy Monday! I am so happy we are in daylight savings time, makes me feel like winter is gone (or at least close to gone)! I was playing around with my Altenew Frosted Garden stamp set and decided to try some no-line coloring with my Zig markers.

I placed all of my images on my panel in my Misti and stamped them using Antique Linen Distress ink. I had already decided to only color one flower as the focus of the project but used my Misti to reposition the panel to emboss the other images once I was done coloring. 

I used Peach Pink and Sugared Almond Pink for the flower. I did a quick wash with the Sugared Almond (and a water brush) then went back to add definition with the Peach Pink then repeated the same process for the leaves with Pale Green, May Green and then Deep Green

I placed my panel back in the Misti once my flower was dry and decided to used Rose Gold embossing to bring out the Sugared Almond pink in the flower. I wasn't too sure at first if I liked the effect but once I added the black sentiment (the Awesome die is by Neat and Tangled and the You Are is by Avery Elle) it seemed to tie the project together. To finish off I added some Studio Katia Black gems.

Thanks for taking the time!

Kim

Avery Elle Birthday for a dear friend!

Happy Monday crafty friends! I am loving all the new releases so far this year! Avery Elle is not an exception. When I picked-up this stamp set I couldn't wait to get inky.

This card is extra special because it was made for a very dear friend who has a birthday tomorrow!

I started by stamping my flowers and leaves from the new Hand Drawn Florals by Avery Elle using my Misti. I used my Copic markers with the flicking technique to offer white highlights on the flowers and leaves. Once I finished my colouring I placed my paper back in the Misti and stamped with VersaMark clear ink so that I could gold emboss my images. I then used the accompanying dies. 

I paired the Altenew Watercolor Stripes Background Die with a black card stock backer, I felt it offered a nice graphic element to the card.  I used my gold embossing powder for the sentiment from the fantastic AE Loads of Wishes set.

I put my card together and added some Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Sequins.

Thanks so much for taking the time!

Kim

Concord and 9th Dahlia

Happy Monday crafty friends! Have you all seen the fantastic sneaks from Creativation? How many of you were watching over the weekend wishing you could be in Phoenix? Lol. I can't wait for the releases, I have my eye on Lawn Fawn, Tim Holtz, Avery Elle and the list goes on and on!

I am a little behind the 8-ball with this project today, it features the fantastic Dahlia turnabout stamp and die set by Concord and 9th. This sucker kept evading me and was sold out but EVERYWHERE! I finally got my little hands on it and I played and played this weekend!

I simply love this stamp and die set, I started by following the instructions and marking the centre of the stamp and I cut a 6x6 piece of card stock and marked the centre to use with my stamp positioner (in this case the Tim Holtz stamp platform).  

I added my Neena Solar with panel in the centre of the 6x6 piece and began stamping 3 sides. I used Baby Boy ink Catherine Pooler (CP), Cornflower Blue ink by Hero Arts and Tide Pool Ink also by Hero Arts.  I then die cut my "fourth" turn so that I could use my new Tonic glitter papers. I am in love with this new glitter paper. This card features the Tropical Tide glitter paper which is an ocean blue color with hints of yellow and green when reflected in the light, it's really beautiful. I then paired the friend from the C&9 Dahlia set with the Altenew Hello with matching die cut. I white embossed both on Lawn Fawn black card stock. 

For this one, I used CP Baby Girl Ink, Lawn Fawn Flamingo and Mama Elephant Buttercup Pigment ink all to match the flecks in the Tonic Opulent Orchid Glitter Paper (I tell you, I love this stuff and it die cuts beautifully).  I paired the You Are from the Dahlia set with this awesome, Awesome die by Your Next Stamp. I embossed the sentiment strip and for the large word die, I die cut it from a fun foam, StickIt and Tonic Black Sapphire glitter paper sandwich.

Green is by far my favourite color so I couldn't resist the Luck Clover Glitter Paper (Tonic) so I used a mix of Hero Arts, Lawn Fawn and Simon Says Stamp green inks. I did the same type of sandwich for the Amazing but used plain black card stock and added some Nuvo glitter pen and Glossy accents for shine to make it stand out due to the darker in colors I used.

This last one had Tonic red glitter paper paired with some coral and peach inks and I forgot to write down the exact colors I used (sorry...) I did the Awesome die cut in the same way as the green with Tonic shimmer pen and glossy accents.

Thanks for taking the time!

Kim

Happy New Year

Happy New Year crafty friends! Wishing you a year filled with family, friends, health, wealth and happiness!

Die cuts all by My Favorite Things. Background Stencil by Altenew and the embossing powder is the Bridal Tinsel by Ranger. All Glitter and specialty paper by Tonic.

Thanks for taking the time!

Kim

Altenew special Birthday!

Happy Monday crafty Friends! My project today features the Altenew Build-a-Flower: Rose stamp set.

This is a special project because it was one of the cards that I made for my Mom's 70th Birthday that we celebrated over the weekend. She loves yellow :)

I took me three tries to master the layers of this set because I used all five to give it as much depth as possible. I used a mix of the Altenew inks and some Hero Arts for the flower and the leaves from the same set. I die cut my images with the accompanying dies.  I then decided that I wanted to try my new Nuvo gilding flakes in the gold (I bought all three and they are simply beautiful).

I used my double sided tape in three different sizes to adhere the flakes. It makes a little bit of a mess but I think the result is worth it! I cleaned the remaining tiny flakes with a Swiffer cloth and it worked like a charm. I really love the effect of the gilding flakes!

I then took out an older (but one of my favourite) birthday sentiments from Papertrey Ink. I finished off the project with a scattering of sequins and gems by Studio Katia (new products for me).

Thanks so much for taking the time and have a great week!

Kim