Simon Says Stamp Crafty Hugs Release!

Hey everyone!Says Stamp new release called Crafty Hugs is live in the SSS store.  There are tons of fun new items and I already have my eye on a couple of them, lol!   Just click here to be taken directly to this new release (This is not an affiliate link.)   As with past Simon Says Stamp releas tes I have been fortunate to receive a new product to create with.  Simon Says Stamp generously provided me with the stamp set called Work of the Heart.  This set is jam packed full of medicalhemed images and also has a matching die set.  I made three cards and decided to focus more on the small images that come with the set.  The first card was created with the little clipboard image and the sentiments 'your kindness is off the charts' and 'thank you'.  I started by determining how many clipboards I wanted in each row and found that three worked perfectly.  I then stamped three rows of clipboards with Memento Tuxed  Simon o black ink and colored them very simply with Copic markers.  I then die cut the panel with a rectangle die.  The sentiment was stamped on vellum using VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I spent a lot of time trying to get the larger sentiment centered and thought I had the smaller sentiment centered, as well, but after I did the embossing I realized that it wasn't quite centered.   Just one of those things that happens, right?  

The second card is my favorite.  There is a cute little sentiment that says 'thanks for patching me up' and it goes perfectly with the little teddy bear that has it's arm in a sling and a bandage on it's head.  I stamped the teddy in VersaFine Clair Acorn ink on smooth Bristol cardstock and then colored him with ZIG markers.  Again, the coloring was very simple.  I trimmed him out once he was dry.  I used the Thanks die that came in a previous Simon Says Stamp monthly kit that I had purchased.  I don't remember what month.  I had made something using the die and other supplies from the kit.  I thought I had put the die back in the box with all the other supplies, but when I went to get it out it was gone!  For several months I looked for it in vain and then one day last week I picked up a couple of SSS stamp set and there it was!  It came in a little plastic bag and I think that it got struck to the stamp sets!  Anyway... I die cut it from the Bristol cardstock and then colored it in an ombre fashion with the same brown markers I used to color the bear.  I die cut a few additional thanks from scrap paper and stacked them all together.  I centered the thanks on a white cardstock panel and then stamped the secondary sentiment underneath.  The bear was adhered on top of the thanks using foam dimensionals.  I'm going to add this one to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.

The final card was created base off of the sentiment 'caring is a work of the heart' and the stethoscope image from the set that has a heart in it.  Using some scrap paper I determined how I was going to stamp the stethoscope and what little add in images I would use.  I decided on one of the little hearts and the little cross image with a heart in the center.  I placed my cardstock panel in my stamping tool, positioned the stethoscope, stamped it with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink and then turned it so that the opposite corner could be stamped in the same way.  I then repositioned the stethoscope and stamped the remaining corners in the same way.  I used a small acrylic block to stamp the hearts and crosses  I colored everything with color pencils.  The stethoscopes were colored with a dark pink Polychromos pencil because I discovered that you can get a stethoscope in just about any color you want... including dark pink!   After everything was colored I added Glossy Accents to the hearts and crosses.  I let everything dry and then figured out how I was going to stamp the sentiment.  I finally settled on using the heart from the Deco Heart die set.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink on red cardstock, die cut it and adhered it to the panel with foam dimensionals.

I had a lot of fun working with this stamp set.  I hope you enjoy my cards and thanks for stopping by!

It's Wednesday!

Hello and happy Wednesday!  Are you playing along with the Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's blog hop?  A Jillian Vance Design is a super sponsor and I have a card to share over on the AJVD blog featuring some fun new coffee inspired products from AJVD.  Here is a little peek:

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to check out my card!

flowers and a wreath...

Hello!  I'm popping in with a couple of cards today for challenges hosted by different stamp companies.  First up is a card for the May Pinkfresh Studio inspiration challenge.  There is a lovely color palette and we are being asked to create something inspired by a design team member.  I chose Kelly Lunceford.  She is so talented and has such an amazing ability to layer stamped images with die cuts.  I really loved a set of tags that she created with the Believe in Yourself stamps and dies.   I was able to purchase the Believe in Yourself stamps and dies during the Pinkfresh Studio release so I used them for my card.  I don't have a lot of Pinkfresh Studio products so I used other dies for my tag and the background panel.  The tag was die cut from white cardstock and then I inked the edges with Spun Sugar distress oxide ink.  I die cut the panel from light gray cardstock using a rectangle die from A Jillian Vance Design.  That was adhered to a white cardstock base.  I stamped the floral image using VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist ink and then all the flowers and leaves using inks from Altenew.  I did discover that that large floral image has two flaws in it, but I figured out how to lessen the flaws for future stamping.  After all the flowers and leaves were stamp I die cut the image with the matching die.  I stamped the sentiment also using Morning Mist ink and then die cut it with the layering die that comes in the set.  I love that the die can be used to cut out the stamp sentiment and also used to layer the die cut!   I mounted the die cut piece to the tag using foam dimensionals and then mounted the tag to the gray panel with foam dimensionals, as well.   I also stamped a little separate sentiment on a die cut strip, but couldn't figure out a really good spot for it once I had adhered the word believe.  I ended up putting in down in the right corner.  I finished off the card with a white twine bow and Pretty Pink Posh sequins in sparkling clear.

The second card is for the MFT sketch and color challenges.  I used the outline Grande Greenery die set, as well as a very old MFT hello die.   There is absolutely no stamping on this card!  I die cut the mini scalloped rectangle from light gray cardstock.  I used two AJVD circle dies layered together to crate a little circle frame to act as the base for my wreath.  I then die cut the smaller two outline leaves from light yellow and a medium blue cardstock.  I layered the larger leaves on the bottom and then filled in with the smaller outline leaves.  The hello was die cut three times from dark gray cardstock and adhered together.  I then adhered the word directly to the wreath with glue.   Once everything was dry I used glue to adhered my wreath the light gray panel and then popped the panel up on a white cardstock base.  I finished by adding some tiny light yellow sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and slightly larger blue sequins from Simon Says Stamp.  At one point when I was placing the sequins on the wreath I had gotten up to check on something.  When I came back I didn't pay attention to where I had left my little jar of light yellow sequins and I spilled the majority of the jar on the floor.  I picked up what I could, but most of the sequins ended up in the vacuum cleaner!  I wasn't happy with myself about that, but that is life!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Hello Wednesday!

Hello there!  Hope your day is going well!  I'm popping in to let you know that I have a card up on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today and here is a little peek:

I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to check out the full project.  Have a lovely day!

clean and simple cards...

Hello!  As my blog title indicates I have clean and simple cards to share today.  First up is a card for the May Altenew inspiration challenge as well as CAS(E) this Sketch.  I love super clean and simple designs, but lately haven't been doing a lot of them.  The CTS layout was the perfect way to get me back to my first love, lol!  The colors for the May Altenew inspiration are bold and bright and I wanted to use them in a way that is somewhat out of my comfort zone.  I think I accomplished that!  To start I played around with the layout a bit on some scrap paper, as well as with the stamps that I would use.  I used the Altenew Always There stamp set and inks from Altenew to stamp everything.  Because I wanted a look where there wasn't a lot of stamp inside the outline image I determined that I needed to use the final layering image for the flower I was stamping.  This image mainly stamps in the center of the flower, but also has a tiny outlying edge that stamps, too.  I did not want that so I made sure to mask off those little areas before inking.  The outline images (flower and two leaves) were stamped in Altenew Pure Graphite.  I then stamped the flower using Tide Blue.  I created simple masks for the flower and leaf and then masked off the flower and stamped the first leaf.  I masked that leaf and stamped the second leaf.  The center of the flower was stamped with Chamomile ink and the leaves with Snapdragon.  I love the sort of pop art feel the stamping has.  I finished things off with a sentiment from a different Altenew stamp set that I heat embossed with black WOW! embossing powder on a banner die cut from vellum.  The Altenew color combo is not one I would normally use, but I really like it so I may make another card before the challenge is over!

For my second card I used the colors from Color Throwdown and the clean and graphic layout from Freshly Made Sketches.  This card was really simple to put together because I used two different dies from the A Jillian Vance Design Sentiment Strips die set.  I die cut the largest (in width) strip from yellow cardstock and the blue and pink cardstock using the smallest (in width) die.  I then adhered all the pieces to a white cardstock panel that I die cut with the largest AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle die.  I decided that I wanted a super simple sentiment so I die cut my letters (using the AJVD Headline Type Alpha die set) from white cardstock and then I found a tiny friend sentiment in a stamp set (Altenew Folksy Florals) and stamped that on the blue strip using black ink.  I finished off the card with three little butterflies (from the AJVD Spring Birdy die set) cut from the pink, yellow and blue cardstock.   Another super clean and simple design that I really, really like!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Altenew May Release!

Hey friends!  You probably know, but Altenew released fun new stamps, dies and stencils yesterday.  Click on the banner below to go check out all the new products.   Altenew is also offering a free gift with each purchase!  (I am affiliated with Altenew and receive a small commission at no cost to you should you click on the link below and make a purchase.  Thank you!)

Thanks for stopping by!