{"id":4783,"date":"2016-04-11T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.simonsaysstampblog.com\/mondaychallenge\/?p=4783"},"modified":"2016-04-16T03:03:19","modified_gmt":"2016-04-16T07:03:19","slug":"challenge-april-showers-bring-may-flowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.simonsaysstampblog.com\/mondaychallenge\/?p=4783","title":{"rendered":"Challenge: April Showers Bring May Flowers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi all and welcome to another week on the\u00a0Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge<\/a><\/p>\n

Thank you for joining us for the Try To Resist Challenge and we hope you will all join us again this week too.\u00a0Please scroll down to see who the winner is!<\/p>\n

This week the challenge is<\/p>\n

APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS<\/span><\/h2>\n

With spring most definitely on the way, despite the snow and ice in some areas, we are celebrating the start of the new season with changes in the weather! Spring showers or flowers, or you can use both on your creations!\u00a0We will be looking forward to seeing what you make!<\/p>\n

As always Simon Says Stamp will be giving away $50 voucher to shop at the fabulous\u00a0Simon Says Stamp Store<\/a><\/p>\n

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Remember to click on the person’s name to see all of the details of how we made these creations and leave these wonderful girls some comment love<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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Beulah<\/a>\u00a0thinks the new Tim Holtz Sideshow Stamp Set<\/a> is perfect for a rainy day<\/p>\n

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This week’s theme gave me the perfect excuse to play with a new stamp set called\u00a0Sideshow<\/a>\u00a0by Tim Holtz. I used a dark blue page from the\u00a0Dapper Paper Stash<\/a>\u00a0as a background then stamped and embossed the main image with\u00a0ColorBox Frost White Ink<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder<\/a>. I stamped additional text and numbers using\u00a0Ranger Red Geranium<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Cobalt<\/a>\u00a0archival inks, added a few vintage postage stamps then highlighted some of the text and lines with\u00a0Gelly Roll Souffle Pens<\/a>. I used\u00a0Perfect Paper Adhesive<\/a>\u00a0and an\u00a0Old Paper Distress Marker<\/a>\u00a0to create a glaze over the embossed image to tone-down some of the bright whites.<\/p>\n

Andrea<\/a> made a set of “rain cards” to celebrate the theme.<\/p>\n

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I don’t really know what “rain cards” are either, but I thought it sounded poetic!\u00a0 I did enjoy using cards from Prima’s Vintage Alpha Card set<\/a> to make these little gems and was impressed at how well the cards help up to the water I splattered on them.\u00a0 And the flowers!\u00a0 I’m loving the Sketched Blooms stamp set<\/a> from My Favorite Things that I used for my foliage here.\u00a0\u00a0 And I thought the nature sentiments from Simon Says Stamps’ One With Nature stamp set<\/a> added just the right touch to the background.<\/p>\n

Anna-Karin<\/a> made a watercolour art journal page celebrating spring.<\/p>\n

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I love all the shades of green in nature during spring and painted a page for my art journal<\/a> using Prima’s new Tropicals<\/a> watercolour set. The tree was stamped with Darkroom Door’s Gum Trees<\/a> set, as well as two of the sentiments. Finally, I added a third sentiment using the One with Nature<\/a> stamp set by Simon Says Stamp.<\/p>\n

Barbara<\/a> uses this challenge to experiment \u00a0new materials and creates a set of spring tags!<\/p>\n

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For my inspiration today I tried to use new materials and new techniques! The most innovative for me is Yupo paper<\/a>, a \u00a0true discovery! A wonderful \u00a0material that I worked with alcohol inks<\/a> to create the background of the black tag<\/a>. Also the technique of the distress crayons<\/a> along with the stencils \u00a0is a real fun! You must try both !<\/p>\n

Cathie<\/a>\u00a0made a colorful canvas full of the joys of spring.<\/p>\n

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I love adding layers of paints, stamps and inks to mixed media backgrounds and Dylusions Paints<\/a>\u00a0are my favorite because of their bright and bold colors. I used. \u00a0Tim Holtz Mixed Media<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Mixed Media 2<\/a>\u00a0stamp sets along with\u00a0Paper Artsy Eclectica 3 EEV06<\/a>\u00a0on my background with several different coordinating colors of Archival Inks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cheiron<\/a> created a tag with painted sunflowers to channel some happy thoughts for spring weather.<\/p>\n

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I wanted to achieve a painty look with these Winnie and Walter In Bloom Annas Floral<\/a> stamps. \u00a0I painted my tag with a layer of Dylusions paint in Calypso Teal<\/a>. I then stamped my flower images in white ink, and painted over them with other colors of Dylusions paints<\/a>. Once the paint was dry, I stamped over the painted images in Archival Black<\/a> ink.<\/p>\n

Emma<\/a>\u00a0can’t wait to see the cherry blossom burst into life in her garden during the month of May!<\/p>\n

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I adore making handmade paper flowers and I had so much fun creating some delicate cherry blossoms using the Tim Holtz Tattered Garland die<\/a> and adding them as a focal point on my canvas media board panel<\/a>. Each blossom is die cut and then spritzed, using\u00a0Spun Sugar<\/a> and Scattered Straw Distress Spray Stains<\/a>. I then attached them to my canvas panel, together with a Found Relative image<\/a> and some vintage ephemera<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kath<\/a>\u00a0was kept indoors by the April Showers and had great fun creating a page for her 2016 Art Journal<\/p>\n

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I created texture on the pages using Ranger Transparent Matte Texture Paste <\/a>with the Tim Holtz Bubble Layering Stencil<\/a> and stamped the floral image from Stampers Anonymous Wildflowers<\/a> with Versamark Ink<\/a>, sprinkled with Ranger Clear Embossing Powder<\/a> and heat set. The pages were coloured with Hickory Smoke<\/a> and Fossilized Amber<\/a> Distress Paints. The \u00a0images from Tim Holtz Lady Rose stamp set<\/a> were stamped on Idea-ology Plain Tissue Wrap<\/a> with Archival Black Ink<\/a>…coloured with Fossilized Amber<\/a>, Wild Honey<\/a> and Twisted Citron <\/a>Distress Markers and fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte<\/a>. I added Design Tape, Film Strip Ribbon<\/a>, Small Talk<\/a> and alphabet stickers to finish.<\/p>\n

Lols<\/a>\u00a0is very new to art journalling and really enjoyed making a page full of rain and flowers<\/p>\n

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Spring is definitely in the air and the flowers in my garden are in full bloom! I painted the pages of a Small Creative Journal<\/a> with Gesso<\/a> before blending with Tumbled Glass<\/a>, Mowed Lawn<\/a> and Squeezed Lemonade<\/a> Distress Inks. I then had a lot of fun creating a background using a Hero Arts Rainy Day<\/a> and Tim Holtz Wildflowers<\/a> Stamps. I also used a Dot Fade Stencil<\/a> and White Embossing Paste<\/a>, sprinkled with Glitter<\/a>. I then added a\u00a0field of beautiful\u00a0Wildflowers<\/a>, coloured with Distress Crayons<\/a>.\u00a0If you haven’t tried art journalling before I would definitely recommend you give it a try! It really is FUN!<\/p>\n

Macarena<\/a>\u00a0made an old book bloom!<\/p>\n

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This is my first ever Art Journal made from an old book!\u00a0My pages are very flourish today but in a quite different way.\u00a0All the flowers were cut out from the newest\u00a0Salvage District<\/a>\u00a0paper collection. As the roses are all quite calm and dark grey, I gave them a little bit brightness with\u00a0White Sharpie Pen<\/a>.\u00a0My background is composed with only 2 colors:\u00a0Dusty Concord<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Peacock Feathers<\/a>\u00a0distress inks. The inks blended perfectly over the old book pages covered with some\u00a0Gesso\u00a0<\/a>layer. I sprayed the inks with water drops giving a nice wet look as if the April shower reached them. Then I stamped\u00a0Scrollwork<\/a>\u00a0stamp partially and randomly just to give a soft touch.\u00a0Finally I chose some words from\u00a0Big Chat Stickers<\/a>\u00a0and arranged them as a main sentiment on both pages giving some touches of Gesso to soften the colors.<\/p>\n

If you have two file folders, Maura<\/a> can show you how to make a mini journal for your gardening plans.<\/p>\n

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Ok, ok, I’ll take rain showers, but no more snow, pretty please. I \u00a0am ready for spring and thinking about getting out and working in my gardens. I’ve wanted a place to keep photos, take notes, and sketch out plans for my various gardens, so decided to make my own journal. Stamping Bella’s Uptown Girl Lolly and her Brolly <\/a>is the perfect image for my cover. I used Wendy Vecchi’s Rainy Day stencil<\/a> to add the cloud and umbrella images, and had fun pulling out stamps like Simon Says Stamp One with Nature set<\/a>\u00a0to add to the outdoor feeling I wanted to create. Let’s get our umbrellas out and play in the rain!<\/p>\n

Meihsia<\/a> was inspired to create a rainy day themed art journal page.<\/p>\n

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I really enjoy the rainy days in spring, so on this art journal page, I created the blue and gray color scheme using Distress Paints<\/a> and Distress Spray<\/a>. The flowers were die cut with Simon Says Delicate Thistle Die<\/a>\u00a0and adhered on the page using Tombow Mono Glue<\/a>. I added the sentiments with Tim Holtz Rubs<\/a> and Big Chat Stickers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sandra<\/a> can’t wait till Spring is in full swing<\/p>\n

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\nI just love Spring when nature begins to awaken, and when the weather is getting warmer. Somehow for me the color yellow represents the spring, maybe it’s because of Easter or the sun, I’m not sure.\u00a0So I used it for my background with the\u00a0Plastic Canvas<\/a> Stencil and Lemon\u00a0Zest<\/a> Dylusions Spray. The Wildflower<\/a> stampset from Tim Holtz I used with my Misti <\/a>and Archival\u00a0Jet Black Ink<\/a>, but also Galaxy Gold<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zoey<\/a>\u00a0took the theme quiete literally and made a fun Rainy boot with a bunch of flowers<\/p>\n

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I had so much playing with this theme! I loved making these ‘roses’ from a\u00a0\u00a0Tim Holtz Tattered Pinecone<\/a>\u00a0die and using Distress Ink<\/a>\u00a0to color my all time favorite Tissue Wrap Paper – Postale<\/a>. The stickers from Tim Holtz Idea-ology small talks<\/a> are perfect for the sentiment and they match perfectly the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Philosophy Tag<\/a>!<\/p>\n

So now it’s YOUR turn to get out your inks, paints and all things arty and start creating! We are looking forward to seeing what you make!<\/p>\n

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Follow\u00a0Simon Says Stamp on Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

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Do you use Instagram ? \u00a0If so please add\u00a0\u00a0#sssmchallenge<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>so we can see your entries there too!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There are fabulous Give Aways and inspiration from fabulous designers on a daily basis over on the\u00a0Simon Says Stamp Blog<\/a>\u00a0, if you haven’t subscribed by email you may want to so you don’t miss out<\/p>\n

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You have until Monday \u00a08am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in<\/p>\n

We will also be choosing 3 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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