Simon Says Stamp DieCember Blog Hop Day 1!

Hello, hello!   I'm so excited to be participating in the day 1 blog hop celebrating Simon Says Stamp's DieCember release!  It is huge and full of wonderful new products!   You should have arrived at my blog from Bonnie Crane's blog.    As you can see from the graphic Simon Says Stamp is offering a free gift with any purchase from the DieCember release and that free gift is an absolutely adorable snowman!  And Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $25 gift certificate at each stop on the hop!!  YAY!  

Simon Says Stamp was so kind and sent me several different products from the release.  Today I'm sharing cards that I made with a few of those products.   Let's take a look at what I created. 

First up is a card that I made using the really cool Forest Background die.  The die cuts out multiple tree lines and a thin border.  You can create a background like I did by keeping all the pieces together or create more depth to the layers by adding dimensional foam.   I started my card by coloring a piece of watercolor cardstock with Rustic Wilderness reinker.   I squeezed out the color from the bottle on to my Tim Holtz glass mat and then applied it to the cardstock with a wet paint brush.   Before applying the reinker I did wet the watercolor cardstock lighty with water.   I tried to have the bottom darker than the top.  It worked, sort of, lol!  Once my cardstock was dry I die cut it and then placed tape on the back to keep everything in place.   I did discard the top portion of the cut as I had created a second watercolor piece using Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot reinkers.    I let that piece dry and then die cut it with the top portion of the die.   Both pieces were then placed in my splatter box, liberally splattered with Simon Says Stamp white splatter medium and set aside to dry.  For the sentiment I used an older Simon Says Stamp peace die and two sub-sentiments from the SSS Stained Glass Greeting stamp set.  I die cut the word three times from glossy black cardstock and layered them.   To assemble the card I added foam squares to the back of the main portion of the background and adhered it to my card base.   For the top portion I used glue so that portion was flush with the card base giving a little dimension to the card.  I finished with the sentiments placed in the center.

For this card I used the new Radiant Burst die and the poinsettia image and sentiment from the SSS Holiday Gift Giving stamp and die set.  I placed the Radiant Burst die slighty off center on a white cardstock panel and then die cut it.   I stamped the poinsettia with Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored the image with Copic markers.   Die cut the poinsettia, two additional layers and glued them together.  Same was done for the sentiment.  I added some glossy accents to the center of the flower and then covered it with Rock Candy glitter.   I'm trying to be mindful of postage costs so I adhered the Radiant Burst panel to my pink cardstock base with glue.   I then adhered the poinsettia and sentiment.  My card is based on the sketch from Sunday Stamps so I will be adding it to their gallery. 

This card is a duplicate of the first card just with a different image, sentiment and color palette.   I couldn't decide which image I wanted to use for the initial card and so decided to just create two.  That means two more cards for my Christmas card stash.  The image was also stamped in Tuxedo Black and colored with Copic markers.   Diecutting and assembly is exactly the same as the first card.    

Which card do you like best?  I like both versions, but I'm a little more partial to the second card as I like bold jewel tone colors more than softer pastel colors.  

My final card is a departure from Christmas and a move to birthday.  This card was made with the Sweet Treat Critters stamp set and the Scalloped Shaker Shapes die set.   I did some masking to keep my card fairly flat for mailing.  Everything was stamped with Tuxedo Black ink and then colored with Copic markers.  I then die cut the image with the larger scalloped shaker shape.  Pink cardstock was die cut with an SSS A2 Frames die and then embossed with a fun puffy heart embossing folder.  I adhered the pink panel with double sided tape and the image with glue.  I finished with the speech bubble sentiments that were popped up with thin foam squares.  

Well, that is it for me.  Your next stop on the hop is Heejung Hunsberger.    A full list of blog hop participants can be found on the Simon Says Stamp blog.  I also have the list below.  You can find the full release right here.

• Simon Says Stamp Blog 
• Heather Hoffman
• Barbara Tarayao
• Cathy Zielske
• Jennifer McGuire
• Emily Midgett
• Amy Rysavy
• Heather Ruwe
• Lisa Addesa
• Miriam Prantner
• Cheiron Brandon
• Kath Stewart
• Caryn Davies
• Bonnie Crane
• Rosemary Dennis
• Heejung Hunsberger

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the hop!

December 25th

 Hello!  Posting has been sporadic, again, lol!  Have been making things and will be sharing some of them on Friday so stay tuned!  I did want to try to play along with JUGs before they take a break until January.  The challenge there is anything goes with stenciling.  I'm also playing along with the Paper Players which is a tic tac toe board.  I went with stenciling, Christmas and patterned paper.  Finally I will be adding this to the SSS Wednesday challenge.   In case you didn't know it is now DieCember over at Simon Says Stamp and so the Wednesday challenge is to use dies.   Whew that was a lot, lol!  Let's take a look at what I made.

Going through my stuff (I have too much!) and I found the Waffle Flower Postage Collage Christmas stencil set.   I honestly did not know that I had even purchased it.  Is that bad?   Well, now I know I have it and so I put it to use making today's card.  Since I was pressed for time I used the suggested distress ink color combo on the Waffle Flower website.   Blue wasn't included in the color combo, but I added it in for the sky behind the house and the reindeer.  Once I was done stenciling I also added some light gold embossing paste to the image with the trees.     I die cut the entire panel with the Postage Collage die and then layered it on some dark green plaid patterned paper.  To bring in a little bit more patterend paper I die cut some red with tiny dots using the smallest poinsettia die from an older Waffle Flower die set.   I created my poinsettia and added a drop of Nuvo drops in Limoncello.  Once that was dry I added everything to a card base along with a Memory Box sentiment tab and I was done.

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

Birch Press Design Post #2

 Hello!  I hope everyone in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving day!  We had a nice, but quiet one.  Spent some time with my in-laws and then roasted our Thanksgiving chicken, lol!  It was delicious!  Anyway, I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.    Here is a little peek:

Wanted to let you know that Birch Press Design is also having a sale.  25% off storewide, free shipping and a free gift!  Make sure you take advantage of the sale!   

Well, that's it for me.  I hope you head over to the blog to see what I created.  Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Wishes...

 Hello!   Hope all is well in your world.  It has gotten chilly here in my corner of the PNW.   I love the crispness in the air when I take our dog for a walk in the morning.   I'm still trying to get Christmas cards made and have one to share today.  It is for Color Hues (teal and silver) and the Paper Players challenge (clean and simple/favorite image to put on a Christmas card).  Let's have a look at what I made.

I used a couple more new Birch Press Design products for my card:  Simple Evergreen Sprigs and Festive Jingle Bells.   I was so excited when I saw the Festive Jingle Bells dies because I love jingle bells!   They are so fun in real life and on a Christmas card.   After die cutting everything from teal and silver cardstock I assembled my bells.  Then I messed around with arranging the evergreen sprigs and came up with a swag of sorts.   Because I tend to fall back on a plain backround I decided to go through my embossing folders and find one that I thought would work.  I used the Simon Says Stamp Wild Berry Wreath to add that little something I was looking for.  I adhered my little swag and then added the bells.  I'm not super happy with the little twine bow and the way the smaller bells are hanging from it, but that is life so I just went with it.  I finished with a sentiment from the Simon Say Stamp Sparkle Season stamp set that I stamped in teal ink and die cut with the matching die.  One more Christmas card to add to the pile!

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

Holiday Cards with Birch Press Design

 Hello!  I'm back with two cards that I made using new dies from Birch Press Design.   This release is another big one and it is jam packed with so many great designs.   I have been in a bit of a cardmaking slump lately, but creating with these dies has pulled me out of it... just a little, lol!   Let's have a look at what I made.

First up is a card that I made using the current sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  I had to change the orientation of the sketch so that my handsome stag would fit!  The die is called Block Print Deer, but since he has antlers that would make him a stag.  Anyway, I die cut all the pieces from watercolor cardstock and then used my brown Aquaflow pen from Tonic Studios to get all the shades that I needed.  As he was drying I picked out a light brown and blue plaid patterned paper from the Memory Box Poinsettia Plaid 6x6 pad.  I die cut down a piece of light blue cardstock and then added the trimmed down patterned paper and a strip of gold foil cardstock.  I added my stag and then to tie it all together I used a Memory Box banner tab with a gold foiled sentiment.  Not a traditional Christmas card, but I like it.

On to my second card!

This card is for the current Sunday Stamp challenge which is also a sketch challenge.  I used three different dies for this card:  Simple Pine Needles, Block Print Winter Pinecone and Block Print Winter Cardinal.  We don't have cardinals in the Pacific Northwest so I have to settle for die cut ones, lol!  All the pieces for this card were also die cut from watercolor cardstock and then colored with Aquaflow pens in red, green, brown and a touch of yellow.    After everything was dry and assembled I added glue to the pine needles and pinecone and then poured on some Rock Candy glitter.  You can't go wrong with sparkle!  I die cut the rectangle from a piece of Memory Box Jolly Christmas 6x6 paper using a Pinkfresh Studio postage edge die.  The strip at the bottom is from the reverse side of that paper.  I adhered everything with glue so the card is still relatively flat.  Finished with another Memory Box sentiment tab.  ETA:  I'm also going to add this one to the current JUGs challenge.  This week is word week and the word is winter.  What says winter more than Christmas?! 

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

Birch Press Design

Hello!  I'm up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  There is a HUGE new release in store and I created my project using three of those new products.  Here is a little peek of what I made. 

Head over to the blog to see the full project.  I had some problems with my blog post and in trying to fix things it appears I accidently removed commenting.  So, please check out the post and feel free to comment here or not.   Thanks!