{"id":973,"date":"2014-02-10T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.simonsaysstampblog.com\/mondaychallenge\/?p=973"},"modified":"2014-02-10T00:09:19","modified_gmt":"2014-02-10T05:09:19","slug":"challenge-we-love-stamps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.simonsaysstampblog.com\/mondaychallenge\/?p=973","title":{"rendered":"Challenge: We Love Stamps!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is Valentine\u2019s week and can\u2019t you just feel love in the air? Well I\u2019m pretty sure almost everyone who reads this blog has one thing in common: we love stamps! So this is your chance to jump in and join us – whether you use a favorite technique or create a project featuring your favorite stamp – enjoy!<\/p>\n

Meihsia<\/a> enjoyed playing the background stamping on her canvas.
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I wanted to make a Valentine wall decor for my daughter Natalie so I used Simon’s New Valentine Stamp<\/a> and Claudine Hellmuth Foam Stamps<\/a> to create this mixed media canvas. After I roughly drew a girl image on the canvas, I colored the image and the background with Gelatos<\/a> and Gesso<\/a>. Natalie was so excited to receive this gift.<\/em><\/p>\n

Andrea<\/a> loves to add all sorts of accessories to people stamps.<\/p>\n

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Ah, Valentine’s Day! The perfect time to express our love for those special people…and stamps…in our lives. One of my all-time favorites is Wendy Vecchi’s Call It Art set<\/a> which includes this dapper mustached-man. He is so entertaining to spiff up with all sorts of add-on’s. Here he is as a somewhat nerdy intellectual who still believes in love. That thought makes me happy, as does this fantastic background paper from Glitz’s Birthday Wishes<\/a> and the lovely Prima rose<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mona<\/a> made a wall hanging featuring the sweet cupid Mini Blueprint:<\/p>\n

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I love the versatility of the many fabulous images in the Mini Blueprints 2<\/a> stamp set. Since Valentine’s Day is only a few days away, I framed the sweet cupid image with a chipboard Ornate Frame<\/a> which I layered on top of a textured<\/a> and painted<\/a> background. To finish the project, I surrounded Cupid with a variety of flowers<\/a> and die cut foliage<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tracy<\/a> focused on the sentiment stamp this week to create a tactile heart wall hanging.<\/p>\n

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This was a simple challenge for me and one I loved. Using both stamps and adding texture and dimension to my artwork are a favourite of mine. I wanted to change things up a little this week and make the sentiment the focal point and the sentiment from Tim Holtz Good Thoughts<\/a> stamp set was perfect to combine with my heart hanging. Another thing I love to do is to create a tactile piece of art, something you just want to reach out and touch. Maya Road Wood Bird Cage<\/a> and Prima Resin Bird Houses<\/a> add the all important dimension in my piece.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dan<\/a> loves large face stamps and he has used his two favorites on these notecards.<\/p>\n

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I have a secret to share with you, but it’s just between us, don’t tell May ok? Sometimes, when we have a challenge that involves a favourite this-or-that, I don’t always use my real favourite! Shocking, I know, but you know how it is with favourites, you use them too often and then suddenly you find that you can’t stand the sight of them any more. That’s why I try to rest my favourites and not over-work them. This time though, I have thrown caution to the winds and I can categorically state, hand on heart, that these are my two favourite face stamps in the whole world. Ever. They’re from the Artful Artifacts<\/a> and Classics#5<\/a> stamp sets and the delicious papers are from the Market Square Emporium<\/a> collection.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ashli<\/a> put one of her favorite stamping techniques to use and created her own embellishments for this layout…<\/p>\n

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It is so much fun to use things in unexpected ways! To create my patterned butterflies and hearts, I put my Sizzix<\/a> to use and turned my Dot Background Stamp<\/a> into a print using some Gelatos<\/a>. I just love the artistic and unexpected look this adds to plain white cardstock. Punched into shapes, this creates the perfect embellishments for the intro page to my daughter’s album!<\/em><\/p>\n

Emma<\/a> used her favourite Valentine stamp as a focal point to make a slider tag with a hidden message for that special person in her life.<\/p>\n

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I wanted to make something special for Valentine’s Day, so I chose to create a tag with a difference, using the gorgeous Tim Holtz Love Struck stamp set<\/a> as my focal point and combining it with handmade red roses. I created layers of interest by using stamps from the set and Layering Stencils<\/a>, and I attached my paper roses (Tattered Florals die) <\/a>to the outside of the pocket. <\/em><\/p>\n

Sandra Mouwen<\/a> is a real stamp lover.<\/p>\n

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I have a big love for stamps. To be honest, I had a hard time making this card. I made it for my best friend that is going through something big. I just wanna let her know I’m thinking of her. For the background I gessoed<\/a> the surface to make it non-porous, so that the Gelatos<\/a> blend and move better. My main image is the Hot Air Balloon<\/a> from Tim Holtz. I just love it. For me it represents hope. My friend loves Hummingbirds<\/a>, and so I had to add them too.<\/em><\/p>\n

Anna-Karin <\/a>hardly ever met a stamp that she didn’t like.<\/p>\n

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Stamps are my favourite supplies and I rarely make anything without at least a little bit of stamping. Some of my most used stamps are text <\/a>and script stamps, and I like to use them to add texture to a background. On this journal page, I used two different text stamps <\/a>by Wendy Vecchi. The flowers <\/a>and grass<\/a> were stamped with one of my favourite techniques, watercolour stamping with Distress Ink<\/a>. I also just had to use my favourite birds in flight stamp <\/a>by Tim Holtz.<\/em><\/p>\n

Michelle<\/a> loves how versatile stamping can be.<\/p>\n

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I love that you can use the same stamp, or stamp set, for numerous different projects. Kelly Purkey’s Oliver<\/a> clear stamps aren’t the obvious choice for cute little Valentine cards, but when combined with Prima’s Anna Marie Sugardots<\/a>, they’ll easily proclaim your love. By using a Martha Stewart heart punch<\/a>, the Fresh Cut papers<\/a> and Waterfall <\/a>pack cleverly replaces Valentine Papers. I love that!<\/em><\/p>\n

I (May<\/a>) really do love stamping!<\/p>\n

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A little bit of stamping<\/a> mixed with some embossed-like effect with a stencil <\/a>and I have a Valentine ready to send! I wanted to use more purple (so much pink + red for Valentine’s usually) and really show my love of all things inky.<\/p>\n

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Suzz will be back later this week to share a video with some tips and techniques on How to Make a Good Impression while stamping.<\/p>\n

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Be sure to check out the team’s blog posts to see more photos, full supply lists, and details about their projects. Then, it is your turn to get creating!<\/p>\n

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As always, Simon Says Stamp<\/a> 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 February 16th Eastern time.<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

For the full rules, read the “challenge rules” posted in the side-bar here on our blog.<\/p>\n

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