Hello and welcome back to the latest edition of Weekender with Wanda here on the Simon Says Stamp Blog!  And, Happy November! Yay, my favorite month for all kinds of reasons! My birthday was this week which is one of the reasons I love November…. But it’s also time for college football rivalry games, cozy evenings inside by the fire, and Thanksgiving of course!! Best wishes to you for a happy November! I’m getting really into my Christmas crafting right now in hopes of just once, being ahead of things. (Check back with me later on that! LOL)

Today I’m sharing some beautiful red Winter roses on a birthday card I made using stamps from Altenew. Altenew images are some of our favorites here at Simon Says Stamp. Their style and look is so unique and always on trend. Their floral stamps are always amazing. Today I chose to use the relatively new stamp set called Bamboo Rose. Sigh. The rose stamps are really just perfection. What else can I say? And, they are perfect for watercoloring.

This technique is always fun! Layering part of your panel up on foam squares after first creating the entire image. Couldn’t be easier, but boy what a great effect! I used a square die here, but this also looks pretty with ovals, circles or rectangles. My finished card is a 5 inch square this time around. Sometimes a square card is an elegant touch.

My finishing touches on this card were some Pretty Pink Posh Droplets adhered with glossy accents and tweezers. I find that the glossy accents works best with these clear stones. The sentiment on this card is from another beautiful Altenew stamp set called Floral Frame.

I started my card with a 6×6 watercolor panel which I would trim down later. I used Archival Jet Black Ink since it is waterproof. I randomly stamped all the roses, the butterfly and the sentiment and let the ink dry for about five minutes. Then I used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors to watercolor the images.

I used only four colors of watercolor paints for this project. I think the red is so striking!

Here is my completed panel before trimming.

This part always makes me nervous because now I used a die cut right on my pretty panel! I always use washi tape to secure my die in place before running it through the Big Shot machine. Success! I used the Exclusive Simon Says Stamp Stitched Squares die for this card.

I made my own card base out of pretty SSS Lipstick Cardstock. I first attached the bottom layer to the red card base. Now the center is cut out of that part. You can leave it red underneath. I usually choose to die cut a piece of white paper and insert it in the open square first. I think this makes it “pop” more. Then, I used foam squares to attache the center, smaller square to the card, lining up the stamped images. Voila!

I wanted a matching envelope for this pretty greeting so I stamped and watercolored an A7 envelope to fit my larger square card. This really ties the whole project together nicely! When I’m making cards I try to remember to grab an envelope and stamp it at the same time since I already have all the supplies out.

Thank you for stopping by this weekend! Have fun, and happy crafting! See you very soon!

SUPPLIES:

Hi friends! Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a great week! We have a super colorful card as inspiration to kick start your weekend on a HAPPY note with the fantastic Laura Bassen! She using the new Color Me Trees stamp and die set as well as a bevy of her favorite Simon brand inks! Love that base cardstock? It’s called Fog, and is a perfect neutral! Be sure to watch the video and enjoy!

Watch the video:

Supplies:

Hi friends! I am SO excited to welcome first time guest Nicole from Right at Home stamps to bring you this gorgeous Autumn inspiration! Read on for more info and enjoy!

Hello there, Simon Says Stampers! My name is Nicole and I’m the designer behind Right at Home Stamps! My brand is a newer one to the Simon Says Stamp store, and I feel so lucky to call them a retailer. Today, I’m showcasing a couple of my favorite fall sets from my collection with this awesome mixed media card. I’m not typically one to experiment with new mediums, however, the new Ranger Distress Crayons are so easy to work with. Let me show you how I used them!

For my card I wanted to create the look of falling, textured leaves. I grabbed my Fall Leaves stamp and used the coordinating dies to cut out some off-white cardstock (Step #1). Next, I set about adding color to them.

I started by adding Mustard Seed to the top of one leaf, Festive Berries to one, and Peeled Paint to the other, and immediately blending it smooth with my finger. One thing I noticed about the Distress Crayons is you need to work very quickly. As soon as you scribble down the color start blending with your fingertip. This will allow you to get the seamless blend. In Step #3 I added a few of the other colors to add dimension. Towards the bottom of the stems I added a touch of brown to make them look like they were a little grunge-y. Once you’ve blended all your colors on, you can stamp over top of them with the coordinating stamps and you have these adorable, fall-tastic leaves!

I adhered them all with foam tape to a stitched panel I created using my Find the Beauty die set. I love my stitching rectangles because of the deep stitches they create…it shows up well on dark cardstocks like kraft as well! I used a little Gathered Twigs Distress Ink to add some brown splatter onto my card. I did this before adhering the sentiment as I wanted to keep it bright and pristine.

For my sentiment, I used my Grateful Heart stamp set. I stamped it in a crisp brown ink and trimmed out around it to help it pop off the busy background. Once I adhered the whole panel to a cream cardbase my card was finished!

I want to thank Stephanie, Chelsey, and Heidi for not only giving me the opportunity to post here today, but to have my stamp line available in their shop. Such a dream come true. I hope you check out the items I used today as well as the rest of my collection in the Simon Says Stamp shop.

Have a crafty day!

Nicole

SUPPLIES: