Love is in the Air

I have been creating with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge since July of 2012.  I have had a wonderful time. I have decided to step down and pursue a few other opportunities.  The Simon Says Stamp team (Heidi, Stephanie and Lorraine) have been wonderful to work with and I have enjoyed my time on the team.  I also have been very lucky to create art with a variety of extremely talented team members (current and retired).   For my final Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge the theme is "Love is in the Air" + the color red.

I decided to create a Valentine's tag:

The background was a mix of gray and red distress stain sprays which became very pink when watered down. :)

I misted on the craft mat and blended and smeared the paper through the inks. I repeated multiple times. After it dried I sprinkled on red and silver again over the surface. 

I stamped the word love using silver ink along the left side. 

I used the Valentine's layering stencil with Wendy Vecchi black embossing paste over the misted background.

After that I decided to use the flowers leftover from my cherry tree the other week on my tag.  I stamped the couple and the word cherish on leftover background from the original tag. I punched a series of hearts and sponged them with red ink and mixed them in the flowers.

Products:  Tim Holtz Tiny Tattered Florals  Tim Holtz Layering Stencil – Valentine Wendy Vecchi Black Embossing Paste, Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Candied Apple, Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Brushed Pewter, Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Hickory Smoke, Tsukeniko - Delicata - Silvery Shimmer, Ranger Archival Ink - Black, Darkroom Door Collage - Harry and Harriet, Simon Says Stamp - All About Love, Sizzix Tim Holtz Tiny Tattered Florals, Authentique - Adore, Simon Says Stamps - Sequins

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

So now it's YOUR turn, come play along and show us your love inspired challenge with a touch of red. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Suzz

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

If you use instagram add  #sssmchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too!

Best Friends

Hello!  Welcome back for another challenge at  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week the challenge is Best Friends. You can interpret this anyway you would like. 

I decided that I would go with a married couple who are just starting out and hopefully will end up as best friends.  They don't look to comfortable  yet. :)

I used an old embroidery hoop that I had laying around in the drawer for sometime.   I started with tissue paper as the base for my background which I stenciled with the doily stencil and a lovely soft pink dye ink and everything just started to gel from there.

Products:  Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Doily, Ranger Distress Ink - Victorian Velvet, Idea-ology Tim Holtz Found Relatives,  Idea-Ology - Tim Holtz Small Talk ,  Lace,  Pink Mist, Embroidery Hoop, Paper Flowers, Heart Charms, Marriage Vows

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

So now it's YOUR turn, come play along and show us your stamp and punch combination. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Suzz

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

If you use instagram add  #sssmchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too!

Stencil It

 Hi all and welcome to another week of the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week the challenge is all about using stencils.  I wanted to make sure I had lots of stencil work in my card.

I started with a piece of cardstock and the harlequin stencil.

I kept trying different variations of the stencil with the salmon colored mist to get a variegated background.

After I had gotten the right mix on the background of the harlequin pattern I used another stencil to bring in the words and sponged them on with a coral dye ink.

I then decided to add some citron to the background with a few splotches of color.  When that was done I needed a focal point and out came the Tim Holtz Butterfly which I split in half with the harlequin in citron and the words in coral.

I think the gray gloomy days had me wanting the bright colors of spring!

Products:

Wendy Vecchi - Art Parts,  Heidi Swapp - Color Shine - Salmon, Tim Holtz Layered Butterfly, Tim Holtz - Layered Stencil - Harlequin,  Simon Says Stamp - Spring Showers

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad ABANDONED CORAL

tim holtz twisted citron stain

Tim Holtz Distress Twisted Citron Ink Pad

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

So now it's YOUR turn, come play along and show us your stamp and punch combination. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Suzz

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

If you use instagram add  #sssmchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too!

Something New

Hi all and welcome to another week of the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week the challenge is to stamp and punch!

I just received these awesome tiny tattered flowers dies and they were brand new and I couldn't wait to try them out.

I started with a burlap canvas:

A whimsical flowery tree on a canvas appeared using a mix of the flowers created with Authentique Adore Papers and a hint of Heidi Swapp – Raspberry Art Screen.   The background is a mix of a painted background with  embossed flowers using the Tim Holtz Layering Stencil Doily and Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste. 
 
My burlap canvas existed with many layers of oops and mistakes and I kept layering it up until I got my background that I ended up using. 

I created my tree from spraying tissue paper with a mix of brown and black sprays.  I then just twisted and turned up pieces of the tissue to form my tree.  After that I glued it down to the background. I accented the tree with my pretty flowers.

I then added the stickers from Idea-Ology - Stickers (Occasions) with a hint of sponging to coordinate. I used the Memento -  Rose Bud

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

So now it's YOUR turn, come play along and show us your new inspiration. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Suzz

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

If you use instagram add  #sssmchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too!

Winter

 Hi all and welcome to another week of the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week the challenge is winter wonderland! 

We had a big blast of snow in November which was followed by incredibly mild days and melted away.  Now we are a few days before Christmas and there is just a light dusting of snow on the ground.  It won't be a winter wonderland this week.    I decided to create a card based on the snow that we like to see at Christmas.

I started with a background of some yummy silver and blue mists on watercolor paper.  I followed it up with some stamped snowflakes in a lovely navy ink.  I finished it off with a layered snowflake with silver, blue and white layers.  A few jingle bells and a simple Christmas card ready to give to a friend.

Products:  Simon Says Stamp Eliza Snowflake Die ,  Simon Says Stamp Lindeman Snowflake Die,  Simon Says Stamp Funky Snowflake Die , Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Snowflake stamps,  Ranger Distress Stain Spray - Brushed Pewter, Jingle Bells, Memento Paris Dusk, Sizzix Thinlits - Handwritten Holidays, Simon Says Stamp Sequins

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

So now it's YOUR turn, come play along and show us your winter inspired art! You have 2 weeks to play along with this challenge.

Suzz

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

If you use instagram add  #sssmchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too!

Just a Pinch

 Hi all and welcome to another week of the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week the challenge is to just a pinch! Whether it is glitter or embossing powder, or perhaps a flick of ink spray this week we challenge you to add just a pinch to your next project. Maybe you simply want to sprinkle your art journal night sky scene with a bit of star shaped sequins. Or do you want to add a pinch of pixie dust to a magical fairy creation? A pinch of the right craft product can make a project extra special!

I started with layering in two different stencils with two different inks over the background of my tag.  The first layer was the holiday words in an antique linen distress ink.  I then came back over with the holly stencil and a tea dye ink to add a more deeper color but not quite brown.  The entire surface of the tag is shimmery gold spray.  

I die cut the deer and holly sprigs and sponged them with vintage brown and added a touch of text stamped over the deer. 

A lovely mix of gold, ivory and browns to give a very subtle shimmer effect.  My pinch is a pinch of sequins that I provided a touch of alcohol inks to coordinate with my color scheme. 

Products:  Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Christmas, Holly Bough,  Penny Black - Prestige (Deer), Memory Box - Holly Branches, Ranger Distress Inks - Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Tea Dye, Heidi Swapp - Color Shine - Gold Lame, Memory Box - Heaven and Nature, Simon Says Stamp - Sequins, Alcohol Inks - Caramel

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

So now it's YOUR turn, come play along and show us your stamp and punch combination. You have 2 weeks for this challenge until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Suzz

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

If you use instagram add  #sssmchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too!

Cherish

Hi all and welcome to another week of the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. This week the challenge is Holly Jolly Stamping! I decided to showcase the pine branches in three different ways.

I love the Pine Needles and decided to explore stamping it in different colors with different colors in the sky.

First I inked it up partially with a green dye ink and overlaid it with Versamark leaving the edges white as if there was snow on the branches.  I heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I then sprinkled goosebumps over the surface to create a natural resist and represent the snow. I stamped the Sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in white.

Then I sponged the distress inks over the background. I mixed in Blue, pink and yellow. I then splattered with a hint of water over the background for water drops.

Next I tried stamping it with versamark and heat embossing with clear embossing powder.  I sprinkled versamark over the surface and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

 

My last card was with black ink and clear embossing powder. I added some touches of white in the background with the versamark re-inker. 

Products: Ranger Distress Inks, Carved Pumpkin, Blueprint Sketch, Picked Raspberry, Fossilized Amber, Ranger Archival Ink - Black, Versamark Watermark Ink, Versamark Re-inker, Memory Box - Cabin Pine Tree, Penny Black - Believe, Goosebumps, Black Cardstock, Clear Embossing Powder, White Embossing Powder

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous Simon Says Stamp Store

So now it's YOUR turn, come play along and show us your holly jolly stamping. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in

Suzz

Follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

If you use instagram add  #sssmchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too!