Simon Says Stamp Celebrate Release!

 Hello!  Simon Says Stamp's Celebrate release is now available on their website!  Simon Says Stamp was so kind and sent me a new stamp set called Simple Wedding Wishes.  I created two cards using this sweet set.  You can find the entire release here.  

I was in an "aqua state of mind" when I made both cards, lol.   It all started with this card when I decided to create a simple watercolor background using a Nuvo Aquaflow pen in the color Aqua!  I stamped the background using the Simon Says Stamp Heart to Heart background stamp on watercolor cardstock using watermark ink and the heat set with white embossing powder.  I got the panel wet, scribbled on some color and then blended it out.   While the panel dried I heat embossed a sentiment from the CZ Designs/Simon Says Stamp You Did stamp set on vellum.  That was die cut with the Simon Says Stamp A2 Nesting Frames die set.   The embossed panel was die cut and then I added a frame that I die cut from the dark aqua cardstock using the second largest A2 Nesting Frames die.  I used liquid adhesive to adhere my vellum panel to the hearts panel.  I finished with two sentiments from the Simple Wedding Wishes embossed in white on the dark aqua cardstock. 

On the first card my aqua had a more green hue to it.  With this card I went with a more blue aqua.  I started by die cutting the light aqua blue panel with a rectangle die and the embossing the panel with the Simon Says Stamp Blossom Field 3d embossing folder.  I used the little vellum frame that was left over after I die cut the vellum panel on the first card for this card to frame up my little bundle of flowers that I made using the Simon Says Stamp Flower Bundle die set.  I used kraft cardstock for the wrapper and vellum for leaf stems.  I used a soft green for the other stems and more blue aqua for the flowers.  I finished with the sentiment from the Simple Wedding Wishes.  

Make sure to check out the release over on the Simon Says Stamp website.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

masculine... feminine...

 Hello and happy Wednesday!  I'm popping in with two cards to share today.  One is masculine and the other is very feminine.   First up is my masculine card for the current Altenew April challenge.  Take a look.

The inspiration photo for the April Altenew challenge is of the ocean/beach at what I believe is sunset.  The colors in the photo range from a fiery orange and yellow to white, gray and black.  There are also several different textures present and I tried to capture all those elements with my card.  Starting with the stamping I used Altenews' Terracotta and Snapdragon Fresh Inks to stamp the two Triangle images from the very old Trigonometry stamp and die set.   For one triangle I used the Terracotta at the top and the Snapdragon at the bottom, making sure to blending the colors in the middle.  I did the reverse for the other triangle.  I stamped both triangles using an acrylic block because I wanted a less than perfect image to sort of mimick the broken up look of sky/clouds in the photo.  I then used Altenew Industrial Diamond and Pure Graphite inks for the other triangles using the same technique done for the first two.  I die cut with the maching die.   To bring in the look of the beach with the snow, as well as the ocean I used the Altenew Dotted Waves cover die to emboss a panel of white cardstock that I then die cut down with a rectangle die.  A larger panel of light gray cardstock was die cut, as well.  I layered the panel on a white cardstock base and then added the triangles.  Originally, I had the triangles arranged so that the terracotta/snapdragon triangles were next to each other with the other triangles as their silhouette below.  But I didn't like how it looked and so I decided to arrange them the way you see.  I liked it much better.  I finished with a Memory Box happy birthday sentiment tab.

 Obviously, my next card is the feminine one.  Let's have a look at it.

At the end of March I was the lucky winner of a Waffle Flower Sneak Peek kit!  The kit contained the pretty Wild Flowers four piece stencil set, Small Sentiments Bloom stamp set and Subsentiments Bloom die cuts.  The stencil set is so easy to use and Waffle Flower even provided a color combo etched into the stencil.  I didn't go with the color combo as I wanted to use the colors from the current Paper Players challenge.  So that is where this card is headed.    The color combo at the Paper Players has four colors in it so I just made sure that I tried to keep the colors I used for the flowers in a pleasing arrangment.  I used Altenew Teal Cave for the Bermuda Bay color and then Pinkfresh Studio inks in Sweet Mustard, Marigold, Grassy Knoll, Sparkling Rose and Bubble Gum for the rest of the colors.  Once the stenciling was done I used a Waffle Flower frame die to cut out the frame and the center rectangle.  I adhered the frame directly to my cardstock base and then popped up the center panel with foam tape.  I made a mistake.  Can you figure it out?    I finished off the card with a sentiment from the Small Sentiments Bloom set and some pretty diecuts my friend Greta sentiment.  The diecuts were originally white and I colored them by simply using the residual ink left on the blending brushes I used for the stenciling.  I love how they look with the stenciled background.   I'm also adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of stencil it.

Well, that's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

you are loved...

 Hello!  I'm popping in with a card for several challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and the Tic Tac Toe challenge.   I don't think I have ever participated in the Tic Tac Toe challenge, but when I saw Lisa from My Paper Tales' card for the challenge I had to play along!  This is what I created:

The CTD colors this week are so bright and pretty.  I mean who doesn't love pink, yellow and green together?  It just says spring and so does the pretty You Are Loved stamp and die set from PaperTrey Ink.  It was one of my purchases when I won a gift certificate during the February release.   I used Pinkfresh Studio inks to do all of the stamping.   For the tic tac toe portion of the challenge I went with the bottom row of foliage, embossing and critter.  My critter is the tiny dragonfly perched on the wreath.  Hope that is sufficient!  I hadn't originally planned to emboss the background, but like I said I was inspired to do it because of Lisa.  I used a Simon Says Stamp embossing folder Blossom Field for the background.   The FMS layout calls for a square, but I rarely do square cards so I went with my usual A2 size.   

Well, that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Birch Press Design Post

 Hello!  I hope your April is off to a great start.  As generally happens here in the Pacific Northwest our April is off to a cold and rainy start!   I'm popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.   Here is a little peek of what I made.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

oh, happy day...

 Hello!  Popping in to share a card that I made for Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   Also going to add this to the Flower Challenge to use layers. Let's have a look!

The CTD colors are aqua, teal and olive.  I went with light values for my aqua and teal and did some simple Copic coloring.  The aqua flower is the one on the right and the teal is the one on the left.  The stamp set I used was the collaboration set by Memory Box and Simon Says Stamp for Stamptember 2023 called So Kind.    I tried to find cardstocks that were a fairly close match for the colors in the magnolia flowers.  I used the Memory Box Arched Capped Pinpoint dies for the elements from the FMS layout and then added the magnolias and sentiment on top.  Very simple, but I like how it turned out.

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

bird's nest...

 Hello!   Wishing everyone a very happy Easter!  I'm popping in to share a card that I made using the current Freshly Made Sketches layout.  And since the challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge is anything goes I will also be posting the card there.  Take a look at what I made.

Lately I have been trying to make a point of using products that I purchase as soon after I receive them as I can instead of getting and then putting them away.   This card uses one of my my recent purchases, PaperTrey Ink's Into the Blooms:  Nest die set.  In February I was the lucky winner of a $100 gift certificate for commenting on their release day blog post!  I had been eyeing the Into the Blooms: Nest die set and so picked it up along with a few other new items.   When I saw the layout for Freshly Made Sketches I thought a bird's nest would be perfect.  I started by using my Crooked Broom distress mica spray and some old Tsukeniko walnut stain spray on distress heavy stock.  I sprayed the heavy stock with water first and then added the other sprays letting them mix.  Because I wanted to get working on the card I used by heat tool to dry the piece of heavy stock.  Then I die cut out the pieces of the nest.  I had lots of pieces of heavy stock that I had sprayed with a combo of other mica sprays and so I used those for the leaves, eggs and flower.  Once I had everything die cut and assembled I dug through my large supply of 6x6 paper pads and came across this very old Basic Grey Serenade pad.  The colors in the pad were perfect for my little nest.  I die cut two different pieces and layered them on my kraft cardstock base.  I layered on the nest and then finished with a Memory Box pre-foiled sentiment tab.  

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!