Hey there everyone! It’s Nina-Marie here with you today to share some inspiration on using the new stamp set included in the June 2016 card kit.

The stamp set, Looking for the Miracles, is a gorgeous one that has a lot of fun floral and leaf images. One of my favorite parts of the stamp set is the sentiment; not only is the font gorgeous, but the sentiment is perfect for encouragement cards of all kins=ds, which are always handy to have around. Today I’ve used the leaves and the sentiment to create backgrounds for this set of beautiful encouragement cards. Not only are these cards fun to make, but they are one layer too, which makes them super easy to mail!

To create these cards I started by cutting watercolor paper down to 4 1/4″ by 5 1/2″ (folded) card bases and placing them into my Mini Misti stamping tool. I prepped the cards with anti-stick powder and then stamped my sentiments onto the center of each card with Simon’s clear embossing ink. The sentiments were then heat embossed using gold embossing powder.

My next step was to stamp the leaves and smaller images to create the background framing my sentiment. For the green and purple cards I used the following Simon ink colors: Jellybean, Catkin, Green Leaf (leaves), Sea Glass (dot clusters) and Hydrangea (florals). For the coral and mint cards I used: Mint, Lake Shores, Spring Rain (leaves), Ducking (dot clusters), Coral Reef (florals).

Once my stamping was done it was time to add some color! I used Tim Holtz distress inks and water brush to color in my images. Because I used Simon dye inks I can watercolor over top without fear of the images bleeding because Simon’s dye inks are waterproof and safe for use with markers like Copics. For my watercoloring I used the following colors on the green and purple cards: Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Crushed Olive (leaves) and Shaded Lilac (florals). For the coral and mint cards I used: Cracked Pistachio, Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers (leaves) and Abandoned Coral (florals). I then covered over every leaf and flower using the Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens.

And because I love the look of paint splatters I had to add some using the Finetec gold metallic watercolor set. You can of course leaves the splatters off for a more clean and simple look. Finally, I added a bit of twine across the top of each card in complimenting colors.

These were so much fun to make and I love how they have created such a fun set of cards to use for yourself, or give away to friends and family as gifts! I hope you’ve enjoyed this bit of inspiration and thanks so much for stopping by today to spend some time with me! See you soon!

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Hi readers! Happy Wednesday! Welcome to Work It Wednesday for May 2016!

In case you’re wondering what ‘Work It Wednesday’ is, let me explain:

On the last Wednesday of every month (or towards the end of the month ;)), we want to see what you’re creating! The Simon Says Stamp community is so very talented, and we want to see more of your cards and projects every month.

We thought this would be a great way for all of you to ‘stretch your creative muscles’ and share what you’ve been working on. So we’ll give you a little challenge each month, and you’ll have until the following month to share what you’ve made. Please limit entries to 3 per month.

Each month we’ll pick a few random participants to win a Simon Says Stamp grab bag!

The projects and cards that were shared for April were so great! We loved seeing what you made for the last challenge, and we look forward to seeing what you make for this challenge.

Do you want to see all of the cards and projects that were shared for April 2016 Work it Wednesday? Check them out!

The following three participants were randomly chosen to win a goody bag from Simon Says Stamp:

Conli!
Ashwini!
Sheena Joy!

Please email [email protected] with your mailing address and she’ll get your prize sent out to you.

Now on to this month’s challenge! Our challenge will be to use some SUNSHINE in your project! Stamps, dies, ephemera, cardstock, ink, there are SO many options!

Once you’re done creating, share your project below!

What are you waiting for? WORK IT! ;)