Throwback Thursday – STAMPtember® Edition!
Welcome to another edition of Throwback Thursday—a trip back in time! For each throwback, we’ll be spotlighting fantastic cards and projects using products from previous releases. The new stuff is always SO fun, but think about all of those great products you’ve collected and set aside. They are STILL AWESOME! And we want to inspire you with fantastic inspiration from our creative archives.
Oh my goodness! We are on the veritable BRINK of STAMPtember®, and we couldn’t be more excited! It’s seriously like Christmas and our birthday all rolled into one with the addition of the biggest crafty celebration on the planet! We hope you are STOKED, because WE sure are!
To whet your appetite, we’re throwing it back to STAMPtember® 2018, and sharing inspiration from last year’s extravaganza. Our STAMPtember® release is always huge, and you might remember some pretty spectacular products from last year’s STAMPtember® collection. In celebration of the upcoming month of stampy happiness, let’s take a look at some glorious cards created with goodies from our 2018 STAMPtember® release!
First up is this beautiful project from Nichol Spohr:
Alcohol Pearl Inks, Yupo paper, and Alcohol Lift Ink were all a part of the magic that Nichol created with this gorgeous design. The backbone is of course the Beautiful Flowers 2 stamp set that was released last STAMPtember®. You can watch her create this card on YouTube HERE, and you can see Nichol’s original post HERE.
Nichol’s supplies
Next, let’s throw it back to this clean and graphic design from Kristina Werner:
No matter the number of years (birthday or anniversary or whatnot), the Birthday Numbers stamp set and coordinating dies are perfect for creating custom cards. I love how Kristina added balloons, a party hat, a bow tie, and a smile to this adorable number five. You can find Kristina’s original blog post HERE, and you can see this card come together on YouTube HERE.
Kristina’s supplies
And let’s not forget this totally spooky design from Jessica Frost-Ballas:
Super cool ink blending spritzed with water and glow in the dark embossing powder are all a part of the eerie Halloween design that Jessica scared up using the Bwahaha stamp set and coordinating dies released last STAMPtember®! That sparkly haunted house is unreal! You can find a link to Jessica’s original blog post HERE, and you can also see her create this card on YouTube HERE.
Jessica’s supplies
And finally this cutie pie card from Heather Ruwe:
Heather admits that she’s not a cat person, but who can resist the Right Meow stamp set? These cool kitties look so cute frolicking about in the Repeating Circles die. I think I need a scarf like the feline in the top left! You can check out Heather’s original blog post HERE.
Heather’s supplies
Did you know that we have inspiration galleries on our website showcasing project ideas for all of our releases and card kits? It’s a veritable treasure-trove of terrific ideas just waiting to inspire you, and you are invited to share your projects, too! You can find all of the Simon release galleries HERE and galleries for our monthly card kits can be found HERE. Scroll through today, and maybe you’ll find one of YOUR projects linked there!
Thanks for throwing it back with us and checking out these cool projects from four talented ladies!
Card Kit Reveal and Inspiration: Look for the Rainbows
Our September 2019 Card Kit, Look for the Rainbows will make your card making dreams come true and add sparkle to your life!
The 6×8 Simon exclusive, Look for the Rainbow stamp set features beautiful flowers, sweet birds, butterflies, and sentiments filled with encouragement, thanks, and love!
This kit also includes a dazzling Tim Holtz 3-D embossing folder, which looks so magnificent when used with the sheets of Tim Holtz Metallic Kraft Stock! Colorful, double-sided Vicki Boutin patterned papers go so well with the pack of shimmery enamel shapes from American Crafts and a jar of sparkling gems from Nuvo. Everything is complemented perfectly with coordinating Simon brand cardstocks and three high-quality Simon envelopes.
The NEW Look for the Rainbows 6×8″ stamp set is available for individual purchase in our store!
Don’t forget! We have LOTS of gorgeous card kit inspiration to access and add to in our Card Kit Galleries!
You can purchase the kit at $34.99, or you can subscribe to our kit of the month program for just $29.99 (plus S&H) per month to have our kits delivered right to your door each month!
If you are a subscriber who used Paypal to purchase your subscription, please be sure to pay the invoice that we send you within 3 business days. We have a limited number of this card kit in stock and don’t want you to miss out. For easier and quicker monthly processing, please contact us via email or telephone and we will put your credit card on file as a courtesy for you. Card kits bill and ship anytime between the 16 – 30 of every month.
Doodling with Debby: Making The Most Of Watercolor Prints
Hi friends! Happy Tuesday! Welcome to the latest edition of Doodling with Debby with Debby Hughes! Debby is sharing some beautiful ways on how to stretch your watercolor prints! Be sure to watch the video for more info and enjoy!
Hi, it’s Debby here, and for my Doodling With Debby video feature for this month, I’m making the most of watercolor prints. Suzy Plantamura designs the sets of watercolor prints that Simon Says Stamp stock and they are printed on Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor card. They are already a great value at under $10 per twelve card set, that’s just over 80 cents per card but when I saw the new Succulents set, I knew I could stretch that even further. Several of the cards have an arrangement of smaller images. It was the image with the cacti on a shelf that got me thinking and then looking at the other cards I was struck that with a little fussy cuttingI could make so many more cards from these smaller images.
I took one of the cards with multiple small images and set about watercoloring three of the pots of plants. I used watercolor today as I love this medium and the cards are printed on Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor card, so you have that option. However, don’t feel that you have to watercolor. I’ve seen all types of media used on these cards – Copics, pencils, markers. The important thing is to use what you have available or what you are most comfortable with. I’m still in love with the look of watercolor, and so that was my choice for today. I used Daniel Smith watercolors and slowly added layers of color to the plants. You don’t have to worry about being too detailed as these are relatively small images, and so a light first wash of color followed by a little shading is all that is needed.
I keep harping on about white gouache but whether you like watercoloring or not I think a tube of white gouache should be in everyone’s toolbox. It gives such excellent opacity that you can paint it over darker colors, and it still gives that great white highlight. I even painted over the black polka dots on the pink pot, and it covered over that fine too. I started with Winsor & Newton Permanent White gouache and have loved it so much I’ve never felt the need to try anything else.
Once I’d finished painting, I dried the card with a heat tool and then fussy cut out each of the three images. I left a small white border around each, and that is so that I could keep the spikes on the cacti intact. My tip when fussy cutting is to keep the scissors steady and instead move the card as you cut. Also, start with the fiddly bits first when you have more card to keep a hold of rather than leaving those until last and then struggle to have much to hold on to. I then set the three plant pots to one side while I worked on the background for this card.
I have used the Scallop Waves Background stamp on virtually every card I’ve made since I received it. I love the scallops and find they make a great subtle background, particularly when stamped in a tone on tone way on kraft card. I placed the stamp in the Misti and stamped it in embossing ink on Neenah Desert Storm card. This ink is clear and slightly sticky when wet, and that is what embossing powder adheres to. However, I’m not embossing today; I’m just letting that ink give a slightly darker tone on the card.
I used to make a lot of 4 bar cards, these little cards are only 3.5 inches by 5 inches, and I think their small size is adorable and particularly suits these three small plant pots. So, I cut the background down, I did make a mistake on my dimensions though, but I fixed that later on. I added foam adhesive to the back of each of the pots and then trimmed a piece of striped patterned paper for the plants to stand on and added foam adhesive to the back of that too. I then splattered the background panel with black paint and then white gouache to give a little more interest and then dried it with a heat tool.
For the sentiment, I used the Thanks and Encouragement set. This set has two large stamps with a variety of messages spaced over them and then a matching die to cut them out. I stamped the thank you images in clear embossing ink on black card and then sprinkled with white embossing powder before heat setting. I then aligned the matching die, held it in place with washi tape and ran it through my die cutting machine. I only used one of the sentiments today, but I’ll tuck the rest away for another time.
I cut and scored a 4-bar card base from Ivory card and then realized my mistake – in cutting the kraft background panel I’d made it too narrow. However, I fixed that quickly by adding another strip of patterned paper along the long edge, and I prefer the extra detail this brings to the card so a happy mistake in the end. I added foam adhesive to the back of the panel and adhered that to the card base and then used the waves of the background to help keep my striped shelf for the plants to stand on straight. I then added each of the three plant pots with foam adhesive and the same for the sentiment strip.
Finally, it was time for a little embellishment. I do like adding a triangle of sequins, enamel dots, Nuvo droplets, crystals or such to catch the eye and draw attention to the focal point. Uneven numbers are supposed to be attractive to the eye, and so a triangle of embellishments is just right. I added three sequins from the new Sunken Treasure sequin mix and kept them in place with Gina K Connect glue and then paired them with Dragon Scales Nuvo droplets. I love Kristina Werner’s envelopes, and she has inspired me to take a little more care with my envelopes. Just a little touch of a stamped tone on tone thank you on the flap of the envelope using a sentiment from the Greetings Mix 1 set stamped in clear embossing ink and then a little twine around the envelope to tie into the black and white stripes of the paper strips on the card.
And there you have one little cute succulents and cacti card which used just three of the images from one of the prints from the Succulents set. I could make two more cards just from this one print, and there are more options in the other prints too. I really enjoyed taking those three plant pots and making this little card, and I’ll be sure to be making more of these. Thanks for joining me today and I hope you’ll join me next time for Doodling With Debby.
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Thanks so much for stopping by, and thanks to Debby for being our guest!
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