Challenge: Summer

For some people this time of year means pools, beach time, and warm weather. Some love to travel and enjoy vacations. Other people just soak in the sunshine. How does summer translate into your creative life? What do you make to celebrate it? Are you inspired by the colors? The themes? This theme is wide open – we can’t wait to see what you come up with for this summer challenge!

Emma hopes for a summer full of adventure!

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When I think of summer, I think of friendship, good times and adventure and wanted to capture all the fun of summer in my canvas project using one of the wonderful Tim Holtz Found Relatives images as a focal point. I attached the photo to a background of Cracked Pistachio and Salty Ocean Distress Paint and added layers of Texture Paste and 3D gel before completing the collage using ephemera pieces and various idea-ology pieces.

Cheiron was inspired by carefree summer vacations at the beach.

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I love summer the most out of any season, and love to spend time at the beach. This cute couple from Tim Holtz’s Found Relatives looks like they are having a great summer vacation. I used Core’dinations Kraft Core Metallic paper and embossed it with some rays as the backdrop for their photo that is filled with golden sunshine.

Summer rainstorms were Ashli’s inspiration this week.

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We have had quite the rainy summer so far around my house! That inspired this whimsical mixed media piece. Using the lovely Dylusion Paints and Neocolor Crayons, I created my colorful background. Then, with some Prismacolor Pencils, I doodled on my little birdies! A few finishing touches and this fun little piece is done!

Meihsia created an art journal page with a sea creature on it.

Meihsia Liu Simply Paper Crafts Mixed Media Art Journal Tim Holtz Crab Simon Says Stamp 600

Summer reminds me of our family vacation, sunshine, ocean and sea creatures. On this art journal page, I sprayed the background with Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain and ColorBox Art Screen Stencil. The crab was stamped with Tim Holtz Rubber Stamp Crab Sketch and colored with Sakura Koi Watercolors.

Maura created a summer canvas.

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Summer flows with bright colors, sunshine, days at the beach or on the water. It’s fun and playful, and full of unexpected moments and brings us back to being a kid again. The kid in me had a great time melting crayons onto canvas, then painting sections with Dina Wakley turquoise and doodling with my Pitt Pens.

Andrea made some beach boxes to take the beach with her wherever she goes.

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Every summer, my favorite memories always involve the beach! I made these little boxes with a beach tucked inside using Tim Holtz’s Matchbox die, a beach shack stamp from Paper Artsy and some stylin’ sunglasses using a glasses die from My Favorite Things.

Anna-Karin is planning to fill this summer with memories.

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I decided that a mini album was the perfect place to collect my summer memories, namely a 6 x 8 canvas album by Heidi Swapp. It comes with page protectors with both full sheets and pocket sheets. Since I knew I’ll need space, I also got an additional pack of page protectors. The cover was decorated with a Woodgrain background stamp and Layering Bird stamps by Hero Arts, as well as Simon Says Stamp Exclusive dies.

I (May) went a bit… off with this one.

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Maybe it was the twisted citron. Or the extreme heat and wishing for cool fall days. I really don’t know. But instead of getting all summer inspired I pulled out the poison and the skeletons and went all Halloween and fall on this tag. I’m really not sure why, but it gave me a chuckle and so I’m sharing it here with you as a reminder that sometimes the theme really can go off in a wild direction!

Summer is the best time for Michelle to get back to Nature.

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“The Color of Fun” recent release by Simon Says Stamp included a darling new “Nature” set. Influenced by Vintage Newsprint Pages and the soft, earthy colors of nature in the Summer, this easy, breezy card with matching envelope (thanks to the Envelope Punch Board) will be created quickly and in the mail fast.

The color yellow was Suzz’s summery inspiration.

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When I was thinking about Summertime I thought of all the sunshine and summer weddings. I decided to pull out all my yellow inks and sprays and create a shabby chic monochromatic card. I used a mix of Ranger Distress Spray Stain – Mustard Seed and Ranger Archival Ink – Chrome Yellow . In the background I stamped the elegant Darkroom Door Texture – Floral Stamp to provide a soft and pretty background.

Sandra’s last birthday card this summer

For me the birthday card summer season is over, and I wanted to try something I normally would do in an art journal, collaging from magazines. In my case the H&M catalog. I kept it simple, because of the small surface. The background is created by spraying Lemon Zest over the SSS Leaves Mask and outlining it with a Pitt Artist Pen.

For more inspiration click on our design team’s blog links so you can see more photos (and full supply lists) for their projects. Leave them a little comment love while you’re there so they know how they’ve inspired you too, if you’re so inclined.

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As always, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $50 gift voucher that will go to a random entry chosen by random generator. To qualify all you need to do is create a new project that ties in (in any way!) with our theme and post it, along with a link back to this challenge, and add a link here. This challenge will end at 11:59pm on Sunday July 5th Eastern time. We will also be choosing some of our entries to put in the spotlight – a special honor where we talk about why we loved that entry in particular and award a special badge too! For the full rules, read the “challenge rules” posted in the side-bar here on our blog.

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  1. oooh- my favorite season of the year-and look at all the wonderful inspiration-love!!

  2. Fabulous creations by the team!!! And thank you for this summer challenge, I’m happy to join in :) Coco x

  3. Gosh! What beautiful summer inspiration from the Design Team! You may have convinced me that summer is my new favorite season with these colorful pieces of artwork!

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