A Blog Named Hero - Happy Holidays!

Hello friends!  I'm up at A Blog Named Hero with a card for our current challenge, Winter Holiday!   This month our collaboration partner is the fabulous Simon Says Stamp.  Head on over to get all the details, and be sure to link up to our challenge for a chance to win a prize from Simon Says Stamp!

A Blog Named Hero December Challenge - Winter Holidays

 It's time for a new challenge at A Blog Named Hero!   This months theme is Winter Holidays and our fabulous collaboration partner is Simon Says Stamp!

The team was lucky enough to receive brand new dies from Simon Says Stamp's "DieCember" release - I received this super cute Happy HB die, and to make it work for the winter holiday theme, I went with soft shades of blue and snowflakes!

To create my card, I cut cardstock strips of several shades of blue and aqua and adhered them to my card front.  Next, I used the Hero Arts Festive Star & Bauble stencil for my background by adhering it over a piece of cardstock and pressing a Versamark pad over top.   I carefully lifted the stencil and added Sparkling Snow embossing powder from Wow!  

I die cut the sentiment from the center of the embossed panel - I love how the stripe detail shows through!  I trimmed the sides of the panel so the cardstock stripe background would show along the sides.

Since this is a card for someone with a winter birthday, I die cut a tag from one of last year's My Monthly Hero kits and tied it along the top with a piece of bakers twine.

Hope you're inspired to enter this month's challenge at A Blog Named Hero!   Can't wait to see what you create!

Sweet Strawberries!

Hello there!   I've been having fun using lots of new stamping goodies I received around/for Christmas.   Yesterday I spent some time playing with the Strawberry Layers stamp set from Strawberry Jude.    There are a ton of layers to create these awesome strawberries, and the results are so impressive!   They look good enough to eat!   Several of my "color experiments" were good enough that I decided to put them to use on some cards!  

First up is my favorite - this one uses a die cut sentiment from Li'l Inker, the stamped sentiment from Sunny Studio, a die from MFT and paper from Gina K.    Lots of my favorites here!    

The next card uses a sentiment from MFT, scallop border die from Simon Says Stamp and paper from Lawn Fawn.

Have a fantastic weekend!   See you next week! :)

CHALLENGE

SSS - SOMETHING NEW

Guesting at Simon Says Stamp!

I'm super excited to be guesting on the Simon Says Stamp blog today!   Head on over to check out the fun card I made using the Fuse tool and Newton's Nook Designs' What a Hoot stamps & dies.

You can find all the goodies I've used at Simon Says Stamp!

Stamptember & Newton's Nook!

Happy STAMPtember!!   I'm so excited to share with you a card I've created using the brand new & exclusive Newton's Nook & Simon Says Stamp collaboration stamp & die set for STAMPtember - Bushels of Love!

I started by die cutting the Simon Says Stamp Thanks Scallop Border  and the Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Border and used a variety of Distress Inks to blend my green grass and blue sky.   I added a bit of masking paper along the border while blending to keep the scallop detail nice and white!  

I stamped and colored the adorable raccoon and bear with Copic markers, and added a tiny bit of the Distress Ink colors to the white around the edges so that they would blend into the scene better.  I tucked in one of the mushrooms, coated with Glossy Accents for shine, behind the hill  (I cut the shorter mushroom off).    

I added some solid green paper behind the die cut word, adhered the panel to a piece of paper from the Echo Park Fall is in the Air 6x6 paper pad, and added some Wink of Stella glitter pen and Glossy Accents to the letters.

These stamps and dies are just the cutest for fall cardmaking!!   Make sure you stop by Simon Says Stamp to get your Bushels of Love stamp/die set - it's an exclusive and once it sells out, it's gone for good!

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of the new STAMPtember goodies!  If you are interested, you can also find me on Instagram and Facebook!

Thanks for stopping by, crafty friends!   I hope your Monday is off to a fantastic start!   

  

Just for fun!

I was able to FINALLY break out my January Simon Says Stamp card kit last night and decided to play along with the SSS Wednesday challenge!   I am pretty sure this is my favorite SSS card kit to date....those Doodlebug papers make me so happy!   (Of course purple is my favorite color, so that helps!)

The SSS Wednesday challenge is ombre, so I broke out my Ombre ink pads from Hero Arts and stamped the adorable Simon Says Stamp snowflakes using the Pool to Navy and Lilac to Grape ink pads to create my own background paper.  

I added a strip of some of the paper included in the kit as well as some of the silver sparkle tape.   I heat embossed the 'sending flurries of' (also included in the stamp set) and the 'love' script is a new die from Newton's Nook Designs.  I die cut it from both black and silver glitter paper and offset it - I love the look!  The cute little eskimo girl sticker finished off the card!   Isn't she adorable?!

I hope you're having a great weekend, everyone!  I'll see you again soon!

Fall Favorites! - A SSS Blog Feature

I'm over on the Simon Says Stamp blog today with a card that is filled with all of my favorite things about Autumn!   Be sure to stop by and check out how I made it and for a chance to win some fun blog candy!

Simon Says Stamp October Card Kit

Hi again, crafty friends!   I'm sharing a card made with the October Simon Says Stamp card kit.   This kit is loaded with awesome goodies - I absolutely fell in love with that heart stamp.   I couldn't wait to ink it up!   I started by adding alcohol inks in shades of red, pink and just a hint of gold to a sheet of glossy paper.   I stamped the heart with Archival ink and fussy cut it out. 

The awesome 'hello' die also came in the kit, as did the patterned paper, which I trimmed down to form an arrow pointing to the heart and the tiny words (also from PP in the kit).   I added a few gold sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and stamped a few of the tiny hearts included in the stamp set with Delicata Gold ink to finish off the card!

I'm entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes! 

The Hop to STOP!

Hi there friends!   I'm participating in the Hop to Stop - this hop is to raise awareness about domestic violence - such an important issue!  Huge props to Becca Cruger for putting this together.    We are using the color purple (the color for National Domestic Violence Awareness Month) on our projects.  

I've used the beautiful Butterflies stamp from Jane's Doodles on my card today.   The background was done with a variety of purple and blue Gelatos, and the butterflies were stamped with Archival Ink and then colored in with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.   I added some accents with white gel pen and some Sparkling Clear sequins by Pretty Pink Posh.   I thought the sentiment was perfect for reminding someone important that they are beautiful and worthy of all the good things in life.

If you have time to play along, make a card with purple in it and link up!  I can't wait to see all the beautiful things you talented ladies (and gentlemen) create!!

I am also entering this card in the following challenges:

(ANYTHING GOES)

(OMBRE)

(WATERCOLOR)

It's Stamptember with Newton's Nook & Simon Says Stamp!

Today is the day!   The brand new and exclusive Simon Says Stamp & Newton's Nook Designs collaboration set, "Hello Fall" is now available at the Simon Says Stamp store.

I was so excited to play with this set...Fall is my absolute favorite time of year, so combining Newton and Fall?   It was a win-win!!

I stamped Newton & Winston onto watercolor paper using Archival ink, and colored them in with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.   I added a few extra leaves to the scene to fill in some gaps.   The sentiment was stamped and embossed with brown EP.   The perfect finishing touches are a strip of orange paper die cut with Lawn Fawn's Stitched Borders,  and a twine bow tied across the top.

I'm completely in love with this stamp set....how about you?  Make sure you stop by Simon Says Stamp to get your Happy Fall stamp set - it's an exclusive and once it sells out, it's gone for good!

Have an awesome weekend, and happy shopping!

Watercolor Blog Hop!

Woo-hoo, it's Friday, people!   Thank heavens....I've had a rough week.   My computer's hard drive went kaput, so I lost a TON of photos and had to spend loads of time reinstalling programs, etc. UGH!  And I also lost my Photoshop Elements, so I'm looking for a new editing program.   Any suggestions are welcome!   I tried PicMonkey for today's card....

So - on to today's card for the Watercolor Blog Hop!   I used my new Zig Real Brush markers to create a soft purple and teal watercolor background and then went over it with some Perfect Pearls Mist.   The feathers, from the Jane's Doodles 'Wise Owl' set were embossed with black embossing powder.   To add some interest to the card, I sliced the background apart and tucked the sentiment ("Giving Thanks" from Simon Says Stamp) right in between.   And of course, since this hop is sponsored by Pretty Pink Posh, I had to add some sequins!!   I used Graphite and Sparkling Clear....

I hope you have time to enter this hop....it's sure to be a fun one!   Now I'm off to go check out all the other amazing cards!   Have a great weekend!

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge - Clearly Christmas

Hello there!   I have been a bad blogger - I've been MIA for far too long, but I'm ready to rectify that!  I'm popping in today with a card created with the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge in mind.

The challenge is "Clearly Christmas" - and I felt a shaker card was in order (and voila!   Just like that, the "clear" part is taken care of!).   I was itching to break out the new WPlus9 set Winter Pals and the Winnie & Walter set Big Bang Flurries.   The background is stamped with the LE W&W set Bigger Bang Flurries in Unicorn White pigment ink.   I flicked some white Dylusions spray on there as well to add to the snowy effect!   The shaker element utilizes PTI dies - they make it easy to create a shaker card!    The owl and sled are colored with Copics and the sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh and Simon Says Stamp.   A band of PTI patterned paper finished the card off.

I'm also linking to the Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.   Hope you get a chance to play along with all of these fun challenges!   Tis' the season to create!