This week on the  Wednesday Challenge we’re having lots of Fun With Felt! I have always loved the texture of felt and the fact that it doesn’t fray makes it a perfect fabric for craft projects.

The Monday Challenge also has a ‘Felt’ theme this week so if you make something using felt you can join in with both challenges and have twice as much chance of winning a $50 Gift Voucher to shop at Simon Says Stamp, now that has got to be good!

We are showcasing our very own Simon Says Stamp ‘Spring Plush Release’ Products this week. You don’t have to use them to join in with the challenge, but if you have them we would love to see them used!

Once you have made your creation just go ahead and upload it into the linky on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog!

As always, we’re offering a chance to win a $50 Gift Voucher to Simon Says Stamp!  All YOU need to do is join in with the challenge!

Below are three projects created by the design team, that showcase this weeks theme. You can visit the challenge blog  to get all the details and see the amazing cards and projects that the design team and our special guest Wanda Guess has created this week. If you click on each designers name, you’ll be taken directly to their blog where you’ll get more details about their project. Be sure to give these talented ladies some comments!

Created by Donna Mikasa our Designer In The Spotlight:

Donna used:

Created by Jennifer Ingle:

Jennifer used:

Created by Teresa Kline:

Teresa used:

So now it’s your turn to get creative with felt!

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Do you use Instagram?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too!

Blog Candy Alert!! Follow our blog via email and comment on this post for a chance to win a special blog candy!

Hi readers! Happy Tuesday, and WELCOME to the latest Creative Uses installment by the fabulous Debby Hughes! Be sure to watch the video, and enjoy!

Hello, Debby here today with a video below looking at how you can take one of your smallest dies to create a dimensional background. I used a rounded rectangle die from the Cuddly Critters Accessories set for the graffitied brick wall of this card by running it through my die cutting machine with some Arches cold pressed watercolor card and an embossing mat. The mat enables the die to be pressed in to the thick card without cutting all the way through and instead leaves a brick shaped impression. I ran the die backwards and forwards through the die cutter until I had a whole panel of bricks.

I then used this dimensional pattern as a guide to add watercolors. As I watercolor a lot I have collected a mishmash of my favorite tube watercolors in a palette, however, excellent alternatives would be the Gansai Tambi watercolors or Distress Inks. I cut the watercolored piece with the largest of the Stitched Rectangles to give a finished edge to the panel and splattered it with a combination of mists and paints.

I used the Painted Hello die to create the graffiti words; blending in Hero Arts Neon inks in to white card and then die cutting. I also cut some more of the hellos from black card and used these to back the neon ones so they popped off the brick wall nicely. The finished panel is then mounted on a Black card base.

I think this graffiti style would suit one of the categories I struggle with most – those tricky teens! And the wording can be switched out to fit the occasion with the wonderful array of painted style word dies available. Thanks for joining me today and I will see you next time for another look at how to stretch your supplies :D

Watch the video:

Supplies:

Good morning and happy Monday everyone! It’s Nina-Marie back again for a brand new Studio Monday and today I’ll be featuring some of our newest Simon stamps and dies in these cute, graduation gift card holders!

 With graduations for college and high school students right around the corner, I thought this would be a perfect theme for this week; these gift card holders are super easy to make and do not require any special supplies or techniques. All you will need is a piece of 8″ by 4 ^1/4” cardstock, and a scoring board and bone folder (or other scoring tool); easy peasy right??

Also, did you know that this month is MISTI-Maynia???? Every single day during the month of May, My Sweet Petunia (the creators of MISTI), are giving away a free Mini MISTI and the Simon blog is today’s giveaway host! I mean like, how cool is that??? To be eligible to win a Mini MISTI, make sure you leave a comment on this blog post!

Okay, so back to our cards for today! I created both a masculine and a feminine version of these gift cards to inspire you with a couple of ideas at how you can decorate your gift cards for the graduates in your life. For the masculine version, I used the brand new Painted Grad die and Father’s Day Finds stamps and dies. Don’t those swanky-looking tags look so trendy???

 For the feminine card, I used the Wild Beauty stamp set and the Painted Grad die; I love how the simplistic and doodled look of the Wild Beauty stamps matched so well with the Painted Grad die.

To see how I created these cards – with the help of my MISTI – be sure to check out the video below! If you enjoy, please give the video a big “thumbs up” and subscribe to our Youtube channel for more weekly inspiration and creativity!

WATCH THE VIDEO:

SUPPLIES

Blog Candy Alert!! Follow our blog via email and comment on this post for a chance to win a special blog candy!

Congrats! Blog Candy WINNERS!

From: Weekender with Wanda – Tim Holtz Mini Clipboard: Nicole Douthit!
From: Celebratory Ink Blending and Masking: Helen Gullet!
From: New Art Journaling Inspiration from Vicky Papaioannou!: Francis Arhipoff!
From: Be an embossing BOSS!: Cynthia Johnson!
From: Studio Monday with Nina-Marie: Mini Honeybee Tag Set: Dee Earnshaw!
From: Weekender with Wanda – Happy Mother’s Day!: Linda Duensing!
From: It’s National Scrapbook Day!: Taunya Butler!
From: Fun with 3D Embossing Folders!: Barbara Green!
From: Tim Holtz Linen: Painted Resist with Shari Carroll: Linnea Sundstrom!
From: Stencil It on Wednesday!: Larissa Heskett!
From: Wet on Wet Watercoloring Technique: Wahnita Hammond!

Please email [email protected] with your mailing address (if applicable), the name of the blog you won from, and the prize you won to claim your prize!

See below for a list of other Misti MAY-nia participants and winners so far:

May 01 – My Sweet Petunia  Winner- Kathy Nalisnik
May 01 – Ilina Crouse  Winner- Mary Morris
May 02 – Lydia Fiedler
May 02 – Virginia Lu  Winner- Sue Nagata
May 03 – Jana Millen  Winner- Jennifer Partridge
May 04 – Carissa Wiley
May 05 – Maureen Wong  Winner- Karen Dunbrook
May 05 – Simon Hurley
May 06 – Laurel Beard
May 06 – Catherine Pooler
May 07 – Laura Sterckx
May 07- My Favorite Things
May 08- Laura Bassen
May 09 – Jeanne Streiff
May 10 – Lawn Lawn
May 11 – Darlene DeVries
May 12- Crafters’ Corner
May 13- Pat Huntoon
May 14 – Sally Lynn MacDonald
May 15 – Avery Elle