Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

 Hello and welcome! I thought I'd join in on a challenge today!! I rarely participate in challenges and I don't know why. They are a great way to get the creative ideas flowing. I also find that I make better use of my supplies. With prompts such as layout, theme or colour combination, it tends to make you look at your stamps, dies and inks with fresh eyes.

This is the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. The theme is "Vacation". Typically, the Monday challenge is a vintage theme. My card is definitely NOT vintage. But that's ok!

I used all older supplies, some of which are no longer available or retired...sorry! But that's the beauty of challenges...you can give your older goodies some more love!

I created a pastel, beach themed card. Everything was cut from white cardstock and then ink blended with Distress Inks. I have tons of coloured cardstock which would make this easier but I love the look of the Distress Inks!

I'm pretty happy with the way this card turned out. It's definitely got a relaxing vibe to it.

Here's a list of the stamps and dies I used. Like I mentioned before, some of these are unavailable but worth a search:)

My Favourite Things:  Beach Scene Builder

                                     Beach Bungalow and Accessories

                                     Cloud Stencil

                                     Sunny Vibes Stamp Set

The scalloped frame is the Fancy Frames from Craftin' Desert Divas (oldie but goodie)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great week!

Laurie

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge

 Hello friends! Today I decided to enter a challenge! I find that challenges are a great way to not only fire up the crafty mojo but to also give you an opportunity to dust off some products that you may not have used in awhile!

I decided to enter the current Wednesday Challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog. It combines two of my favourite things:  Tim Holtz and tags!!

I used the largest of the Tim Holtz Framelits Tags. To create the background, I used a variety of acrylic paints and my fingers to apply. This is my favourite way to get a fun background. I then used a whole bunch of stencils to create layers and patterns.

Next, I dug through my stash and found the Arched Leaf and Flower Blooms die set from Simon. To go along with these flowers and leaves, I used the TH Feathered Friends dies. After everything was cut out, I used Gina K Designs inks to add colour.

I played around a little with the arrangement and used a combination of liquid glue and foam adhesive to adhere everything. 

The sentiment comes from an older TH die set called Pondering Words.

This tag fits onto a card base measuring 6.25 X 3.5.

Thanks for dropping by! See you soon!

Laurie

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge....Diecutting!!

 Well, hello there!! I'm really not sure how many subscribers I have left here and that's understandable and okay.  I've been so very absent here. I apologize and will try harder.  I don't have any other excuse except I'm super lazy.  I actually love sitting down and writing blog posts but when you don't actually HAVE to do it (ie. design teams), it just seems easy to ignore/forget about it! Anyway.....

I'm entering the current Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which is all about die cutting!! If you know me or follow me on Instagram, you'll know that die cutting is my all time favourite thing to do so I just had to enter this one!

I love making cards but I've discovered that I can take all the same supplies and techniques and turn paper into home decor pieces! I actually have a bunch of framed "paper pieces" throughout my craft room!

I've used the Lovely Envelope Die Set from Altenew to create this floral filled envelope. I used water colour paper and used Distress Oxide Inks along with the "smooshing" technique. For the sentiment, I used the You Matter Die from Simon.

Once all the pieces were put together, I adhered everything onto a 5X7 piece of ivory cardstock embossed with the Geo Screen Embossing Folder from Spellbinders.

This is just an inexpensive frame. The panel is quite dimensional so I had to really push it in there but it worked!!

I love the way it looked and it is on my wall now!  

I do apologize for the photos. It was a little late and I was having a bit of trouble not catching the glare of the photo frame.

Thanks so much for dropping by. I hope you found a little inspiration :)

Laurie

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with Newton's Nook!

Hello everyone!!  Tonight I decided to participate in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!! This time around it's an Anything Goes theme but they are featuring Newton's Nook Stamps.  I love Newton's Nook but I'm afraid the stamps I have are under used :(.  So this challenge was perfect!  Time to show Newton some love!!

While I adore that cat, Newton, I chose to use my all time favourite floral set.  Happy Little Thoughts is a set that has three wreath images, one that is full of flowers and the other two give you the opportunity to decorate.  There are many small images to fill the wreaths.  And the Co-ordinating Dies are fabulous!!

I ended up making tiny cards, that could be used as tags, as well.  For the base of each card/tag, I used the smallest die from the Postage Stamp Edge Dies from Simon.  I cut 4 of these and adhered them together with Scor-Tape.

The wreaths fit perfectly on these small square dies!

There was a lot of die cutting involved on these two little cards but I don't mind at all, especially when all the products are so fun to use!!

Thank you for stopping by!!  See you soon!

Laurie

You Are My Favorite

Hello Everyone!!  I wanted to share a card I made using products from Simon Says Stamp.  I've been dying to use the Tropical Leaves stamp set.  This set has been on my wishlist for a long time so when Simon had a 30% off sale, I just HAD to order it!!

My new obsession lately is using my Tombow markers with solid image stamps.  The results are amazing!!  You actually feel like an artist!  I've tried this watercolor technique in the past using my Distress Ink mini ink cubes with not great results.  You always have to "stamp off" because the ink is so intense...and that's too much work :)

I simply swiped the edge of the brush tip across the stamp, sometimes adding a second color, then huffed on it lightly to moisten the ink.  The stamped image comes out quite light but once you add the water, it looks beautiful.

After the panel was done, I used the largest of the Stitched Rectangles to trim it down.  I didn't want to cover all the prettiness that I had achieved, so instead of stamping a sentiment I used the You Are My Favorite die.  I added the panel with foam adhesive onto a cardbase using Hero Art Layering Paper called Floral.

To finish off I scattered some Sparkling Clear Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

I really like how this turned out and I hope you do too!!  Thank you for taking the time to stop by!!

Laurie